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bird’s-eye view oe proposed bridge 


SCALE 200 FEET TO 3-4 INCH 






























































R PLANT, SHOWING DRAW-SPAN AND BOOM 












































/ 


. THE 


Practical Thoughts 


OF A 


BUSINESS MAN 


BY J 

Alonzo C. Mather 


Compliments of 

C be Hutbor ^ 


CHICAGO 

1893 


PoiJt 6 189y 

or 











COPYRIGHT BY 

ALONZO C. MATHKR, 

CHICAGO. 

1893. 



r 




<7^ jf- 


CONTENTS 






Preface . 7 

Chapter I. Buffalo and its Surroundings.13 

Chapter II. Description of Proposed Bridge and its Electrical 

Producing Powers.21 


Chapter HI. Needs of Propo.sed Electrical Medical School and 
Laboratory for Plstablishing Standards, in Medicine 


and Electricity.29 

Chapter IV. Unrestricted Trade between the United States and 

Canada., ■ • 33 

CH.4PTER V. Proposed New York and Chicago Electric System of 

Transportation.'.41 

Chapter \T. Immediate Relief and Better Power Necessary for 

the Erie Canal Boatmen. 5 t 


Chapter VII. Horse Power on Boats.55 

Ch.\pter VIII. Petroleum or Gasoline Engines and their Adapt¬ 
ability to the Propulsion of Canal Boats • • • • 59 

Chapter IX. Electric Propulsion of Canal Boats and Dangers of 

Too Rapid Consumption of Coal.65 

Chapter X. Trucks, Motors and Applications of the same—Pneu¬ 
matic Springs.69 

Chapter XI. Three-Rail Track and its Advantages.75 

Chapter XII. My Plnterprises as an Investment.77 

Ch.\pteR XITI. Successful Enterprises Organized by and Based on 

Patents Granted to the Author .79 

Chapter XIV. Mj^ Undeveloped Patents and their Possibilities 83 

Chapter XV. Conclusion.87 














SMITH & COLBERT 

PRINTERS 


348-350 DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO 




• • • 


PREFACE 


• • • 


T he thoughts of the business man must necessarily be contracted 
and devoid of much study or embellishment, as a man engaged in 
active business, to succeed in the present whirl of fierce competi¬ 
tion, has little time to study or write books. At the same time 
their experience particularly fits them to judge of human nature, and their 
ideas on any subject are usually good. Hence, I deem it the duty of every 
business man to give his crude thoughts to the world and leave it for the 
student and gentleman of the press to criticise, agitate, and place their 
thoughts or their ideas, if any are worthy, in an attractive form before the 
public. Consequently, I hope I may be excused if I touch on subjects in 
this book apparently foreign to its object, as it is done with the best of 
motives. I believe from my experience and study of human nature that 
the true way to accomplish any radical change in the manner or custom of 
doing things is to prove its practicability, and that it would become the in¬ 
terest of all concerned, to do it in accordance with the laws of nature, which 
are always right if rightly interpreted. Usually the lack of machinery and 
means of bringing into practical use all the wonderful facts and elements of 
of nature necessitates the violation of nature’s laws and the continued wrong 
way of doing things. But when an evil is discovered (and the larger its 
magnitude the greater the evil), man at once turns to nature and asks for 
a remedy. And if it be an evil, there is in the wonderful inexhaustible re¬ 
sources of nature a remedy, cure or antidote; man is put here to work it 
out himself. We are here to develop this great world and remedy all evils 
by thought and study and not by force ; which fact in a measure accounts 
for the comparatively small progress made up to the present century, pre¬ 
vious to which monarchs and kings have ruled by force. But where the 


people rule and the press is unhampered progress is rapid and right wins. 

Every man should write up nature as he sees it—be it right or wrong ; 
it may suggest thoughts to others that will benefit mankind and aid in the 
development of this wonderful world of ours. Hence, I claim the oil, coal 
and mineral wealth of the world, that is, the work of nature, belong to the 
people and were so intended by the Creator ; while the wealth created by 
cultivating the fields and manufacturing belongs to those who produce it 
by their own physical or mental labor. Mind you, there must be trustees 
to handle and dispose of this great accumulated wealth beneath the surface 
of the earth, or a general scramble would follow and a state of chaos exist 
that would soon depopulate the earth. Hence, so long as those who develop 
nitrate mines, gold fields and oil wells, and bring into practical use this 
stored wealth of nature in all its greatness, are generous, and expend it for 
the development, employment and education of mankind, it is well that 
things should be as they are. 

A man who makes his own money is privileged to spend it as he 
chooses, and encourage his taste as he may feel disposed. If there were no 
rich people, none of the more luxurious beauties of nature would be brought 
to light, or expensive works of art, dress, music, hotels or cars, which we 
now enjoy. Wealth is as essential to the development of this world as the 
air itself; it is part of the world’s great system of development, and with¬ 
out it the most important cog would be missing, and by an equal distribu¬ 
tion of property all progress would cease. But the wealthy are not to be 
envied, as great cares, disappointments and jealousies are their lot, and 
their possessions are but temporary. 

As we approach the close of each year, it is customary among business 


7 



8 


. . . PREFACE. . . 


uien to take an account of stock and other resources; to stop and 
reflect, and make plans and resolutions for the coming year, and judge want 
of supplies from what have been used in the past. The same custom 
applies with much greater force to the close of each one hundred years, 
and causes every one to think and reflect on the resources that the world 
consumed in the past century, and what will be required for the next, and 
how its resources should be husbanded accordingly. I often think that it 
was fortunate that Columbus discovered America so near the close of a 
century on account of its bringing the World’s Fair at just an opportune 
time; so when we close our books for this century, the world will know 
how to start out on the next from what they will have learned at the 
World’s Fair in Chicago. And I sincerely hope that the great power which 
lies in the public press for good or evil, will agitate the subjects of all the 
various governments on the face of the earth at the close of the present 
century, requiring a careful survey made of the resources in coal, petroleum 
and those formations which once gone, are gone forever, and careful esti¬ 
mates made of their probable consumption, that they may curtail mining 
accordingly, in order not to leave an impoverished world before its possi¬ 
bilities or beauties are half developed. 

Many thinking men are already anxious as to the source of power to 
suppl}^ the coming millions. By the best authorities the supply of coal 
which now supplies the energy for ninety-five per cent, of all our heat and 
power will be well nigh exhausted in one hundred years. But nature, in 
her wisdom, seems to supply all these exhaustible resources with a substi¬ 
tute far better than that which preceded it. I predict that in less 
than one hundred years the ebb and flow of the ocean tides and the energy 
stored in the falling waters will be the source from which our heat, light, 
and power will come, and, as is the case of the metals, nothing will be 
lost ; simply a change in form and worked over time and time again. The 
world is filled with opportunities to make fortunes by saving that which is 
now going to waste unobserved, by bad management or wrong principles, 
and b}? bad ways of doing that which is now done. As the country in¬ 
creases in population and wealth and rapid working machinery, hours of 


labor must necessarily be reduced to give employment to all who require 
it. Travel, amusement and luxuries must be increased in order to find va¬ 
rious occupations for the millions, and a World’s Fair every year in some 
quarter of the globe would be a good thing, as it must create work and 
stimulate the circulation of money. For these International Exhibitions 
are of inestimable value and bring people from all parts of the world in 
touch with each other, and every race of people are represented with their 
latest and best efforts. 

There is, in this great world, wealth in all directions for those who 
look at nature rightly, and total failure for those who oppose nature’s laws. 
Always strive to work with nature in developing those gifts which nature 
has given, and aim to save loss and shrinkage in all directions and success 
is sure. Great events seem to run by centuries ; one century is noted for 
art, another for painting, while this nineteenth century is noted for its in¬ 
ventions, and in my judgment never will again be equaled. Detail im¬ 
provements may be made on that which has been invented in this century, 
but the electric telegraph, telephone, generator, motor, sewing machine, 
reaper, mower and compound engine have been invented and cannot be 
invented over again—only detail improvements are possible. 

A man is justified in alluding to his own works only to give confidence 
to others in him and his works. Would that I could live five hundred 
years from now, when possibly the machinery of man’s construction will 
be geared in with that of nature, and the same mysterious force that pro¬ 
pels the planets with unvarying regularity around their orbits may serve 
to do the work of man from the smallest to the greatest degree. I believe 
the only sins charged up to man are where an injustice is done to his fel¬ 
low man, and it is charged in proportion to the greatness and the extent of 
the physical or mental suflFering caused. I suggest to all those seeking 
wealth not to grind down help, or resort to schemes to win from others that 
which they may have accumulated, but to look to nature and draw from 
her inexhaustible resources. The world is filled with opportunities with 
which to make millions by utilizing that which is now going to waste on 
every hand, and doing right that which is done wrong. A close observer 


. . . PREFACE. . . 


9 


cannot fail to see riches in this wonderful world of ours, as the wasteful¬ 
ness in every direction is simply appalling, and stares one in the face on 
every hand. For instance, I believe the wealth of half the continent is 
w’asted in allowing the energy stored in the great lakes to run at waste 
through the Niagara River. The thoughts in the minds of the thousands 
one meets in life, all as different as their faces, how beneficial, how inter¬ 
esting if they could be written and the good selected out! My advice to 
any man who feels himself breaking down under the worry and cares of 
business is to go to work and build a model in which there are one or two 
thousand pieces, and little rivets to be put in places, and if he does not for¬ 
get his troubles and attend strictly to his model he pounds his finger for 
a pleasant reminder just as many times as he neglects his rivets. What 
right have we transitory beings to make laws to restrict the trade or tal¬ 
ents of the people? The Creator intended the earth for all, and liberty and 
trade should be as free as the air we breathe, and those who make laws 
limit their own resources, and it reacts back on them tenfold. There is too 
much hypocrisy and humbuggery in the world, and fortunate are the 95 
per cent, of humanity who see the world as it appears, and not as it really 
is ; happy they who do not penetrate below the surface. It is truly said 
that a man lives in a higher sphere who creates in his own mind new things 
or loses himself in trying to solve the wonderful works of nature, composes 
music, paints pictures, or in any way adds to the pleasures or comforts of 
mankind and furthers the development of this w'orld and the elements in it. 
The pleasure he realizes in seeing his thoughts and day-dreams materialize 
and develop is far greater than society events or personal flattery, which 
soon becomes tiresome. 

There is no question but that the Creator in providing such abundant 
natural resources of power and such convenient ways of handling it, de¬ 
signed to lighten the labors of man and beast, and gave them feeling to 
enjoy the good things of life in proportion to their sphere. The senses of 
enjoyment and comfort are greatest among man, and next the horse, ox, 
and so on down. Hence I claim the canal horse should be supplanted by 
better and less expensive means of propulsion, and given a chance to enjoy 


the green fields of the country, and not housed, during the few hours of rest, 
in a six by eight room in one end of the canal-boat. Those who have ob¬ 
served the comfort and apparent happiness of animals in the fields, cannot 
fail to sympathize with them when confined to restricted quarters, and are 
glad to do all they can to lessen their burden. To a close observer who 
has watched the bright light, cheerful look and quick movement of our 
suburban electric railway cars, it is very evident that this element which 
exists everywhere, in inexhaustable quantities, from which heat, light and 
power can be produced, is bound to be the motive power of our railroads of 
the twentieth century. It is the only element that is too quick for us. 
Nearly all other sources of power we speed from a slow to a faster move¬ 
ment, but with electricty this is reversed; it is speeded from a faster to a 
slower movement to get it down for working purposes. Hence, it is at 
once evident that electricity is particularly adapted for rapid movement of 
trains, by proper construction of the trucks and surroundings, and it is 
easily possible to produce a railroad that will run one hundred and fifty, or 
rather fly at a rate of speed of nearly two hundred miles an hour. Those 
who have experimented only a little in the mysteries of nature are fasci¬ 
nated at the possibilities and never-failing certainty of its working under 
the same circumstances, and when understood, you can produce frost 
and ice from a jet of gas, and wonderful mysteries in a vacuum that it 
is impossible to do in the open air; all of which possibilities are for the 
benefit of mankind if properly worked out, and it is a neglect of our duty 
to let these wonderful mysteries lie idly by, unimproved or unavailed of. 

If our statesmen, in making laws, would study and follow the laws of 
nature, their works would be lasting and less time lost in changing and 
undoing that which costs so much time and money to do. The great law 
of nature for man can be summed up in a few words, viz; Allow unlimited 
latitude for growth, both in mind and accumulation. Nature holds each 
individual responsible for violation of her laws, and no law of nature makes, 
one man suffer for the violation of her laws by another. So in making laws 
unlimited latitude and encouragement should be given for growdh and 
development; great freedom of trade and speech so long as no harm is done 


lO 


. . . PREFACE . ... 


to another, the great problem being to make the laws so that each individ¬ 
ual must personally suffer for the injustice his action does another and not 
throw it off on some corporation or third party. 

In this world a person cannot say what he will do, but he can say 
what he would like to see done and what he will strive to do; and lay plans 
accordingly, no matter how much the work or how great the undertaking- 
My ambitions are described in the following pages. 

First; To see a great Memorial Bridge to the inventors of the 19th 
century span the most wonderful river in the World (the Niagara) with a 
powerful wheel licking up the millions of pounds of energy and converting 
it into that most useful of all elements, “Electricity,” as described in 
Chapter II. 

Second: To emancipate the poor canal horses without injustice or 
injury to anyone and convert the Erie Canal into a great highway through 
which the products of the Great West can be transported at a cost as much 
below the present as the present is below that of twenty-five years ago. All 
this can be done as described in Chapter VI. 

Third: Utilize the tow-path of the Erie Canal, which winds its way 
through the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, for an Electric Railroad, over 
which trains can be run at short intervals 100 miles per hour without a 
perceptible jar On Pneumatic Springs; and constantly have telegraphic and 
telephonic connection with other trains and stations on the line, bringing 
Chicago within ten hours, Buffalo five, Rochester within four, Syracuse 
within three and Utica w’ithin two hours of New York City, at a very low 
rate of fare. Who could wish more for their native State they love ? And 
this, too, I believe can be done as described in Chapter V, through the 
medium of Electricity. 

Fourth: Unrestricted Trade the world over, especially on the North 
American Continent, which I think can also be done through the wonderful 
annihilation of distance and rapid means of communication due to Elec¬ 
tricity as described in Chapter IV. 

Fifth; I would like to see on the West bank of that wonderful Niagara 
River, as beautiful a city as now lies on its East bank; where Electricity can 


be produced in quantities unheard of; where natural gas is now at hand in 
great quantities; where there is more fresh water passing than at any 
other place in the world, yet never any floods; where there is always a 
refreshing breeze and pure air; where the people live to a greater average 
age than at any other place in the United States; where raw material can 
be handled at less cost than anywhere else in this American Continent; 
where the iron and ore from the great mines of the Lake Superior country 
meet half way the coal from the mines of Pennsylvania ; where wheat can 
be milled by electrical power and transported as flour over the inland 
part of the route ; where every portion of this imaginary city can have its 
divisions or districts for special industry, viz : 

The steel car building district. 

The rolling mill district. 

The ore smelting district. 

The lumber w'orking district. 

The elevator district. 

The flour milling district, etc., and where no complications in the hand¬ 
ling of raw materials or manufactured goods will occur. This, I believe can 
be done as described. 

Last, but not least, I would like to see established at this coming Elec¬ 
trical Center of the North American Continent an Electrical and IVIedical 
College and Laboratory devoted exclusively to the practical demonstration 
and physical proof of those two branches, something on the lines marked 
out and described in Chapter III. 

Prompted by a desire like all good loyal Chicago citizens to do some¬ 
thing in their humble way to add to the World’s Fair’s attractiveness, I 
decided to make an exhibit of some of the above mentioned ideas which 
I have so long entertained, and demonstrate to the world some of the many 
day-dreams which have been such a source of delight to me—hardly dar¬ 
ing to hope they would ever materialize. But the fact gives me great 
encouragement, that through this International Exhibition one has such 
good opportunities to demonstrate his thoughts and ideas, and so stim¬ 
ulate others who have thoughts stored up in their brains on the same sub- 


. . . PREFACE. . . 


II 


ject, to bring them out and present them to the public for criticism. 

When I went on to Washington with a trainload of enthusiastic citi¬ 
zens to secure the World’s Fair I had not the remotest idea that we would 
get it against New York ; but one thing I did feel sure of, that if we did 
get it we would give the world a far better Fair because of our more united, 
energetic and pushing citizens, who seem to work without jealousy, and all 
pull together, both rich and poor, for one common cause. And I am glad 
this great Fair is held seven years before the close of this century, for I be¬ 
lieve it will result in many more great achievements being crowded into the 
nineteenth centurv, the one in which I have lived. That great good will 


come from this great Columbian Exposition is unquestioned; and the re¬ 
sults will be felt in years to come more than now, with such encourage¬ 
ment and opportunities to exhibit one’s thoughts and compare notes 
with those in the same line of work, never before offered. And I only hope 
it will result in establishing a custom and demonstrating the wisdom 
of holding a great international exhibit every year in some part of the 
world. It will also be found that while Chicago men are always on the 
alert to see the natural advantages and possibilities of their own city, they 
are equally keen to appreciate the natural advantages and possibilities of 
others and aid in this development. 



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Chapter I 


Buffalo and 


ITS Surroundings. 


1 WISH to say a word about Buffalo, so favored by nature, a city of two 
hundred and eighty thousand inhabitants, located at the very focus 
of the great horn of plenty, the “Niagara River,” whose growth in the last 
decade has been greater in proportion than almost any city in the United 
States ; whose bank clearances, the best indicator of trade, have increased 
over 50 per cent, per annum during the past ten years ; and all of this with¬ 
out a boom, or, you might say, a forced growth, since the modesty of the 
average Buffalonian prevents their putting the broad side front. I believe 
if it were not for their modesty, they could get every other international 
convention and half the other conventions in the land on account of their 
close proximity to Niagara Falls, and the many other marv^els of nature. 
These and the 300 miles of asphalt pavement, the beautiful boulevards and 
parks, which I might say are almost unknown outside their own county, 
make me feel it is better to be called a windy city like Chicago and let the 
world know what you possess than have no wind at all and become stag¬ 
nant. And I w'ish to say, I strongely advise all those who are sufficiently 
interested to read this book to stop off at Buffalo and look at its wonderful 
harbor and surroundings of nature, where will be found some of the best 
hotels and drives. As you pass by the water-works and beautiful parade 


grounds surrounding Fort Porter, and that which is called “The Front,” 
you will behold a sight to me greater than Niagara Falls itself. Here you 
will see over 6,000,000,000 pounds of water rushing by per minute at the rate 
of eight miles per hour through a channel cut in stone by nature for the 
good of man. It is a body of water one hundred times greater than that 
which destroyed Johnstown, which picked up locomotives and carried 
them great distances, twisted and bent iron beams as large as your body as 
if they were weeds. This power, a hundred times greater, can be chained 
into subjection, by little work of man, and at a cost of a few hundred 
thousand dollars can be utilized for the creation of Electricity. 

It seems to me that live daily papers and progressive cities go together; 
whether the papers and printing houses make the cities, or the cities make 
the papers is a question. But in Buffalo, like all other progressive cities, 
will be found some of the largest and most interesting printing establish¬ 
ments, some of the largest, cleanest type and best printed papers in the 
United States, establishments which are well worth a visit from strangers. 
And while I consider Chicago was made great by the wonderful energy of 
her citizens, Buffalo is certainly made great by nature and is surely des¬ 
tined to become the Electrical Center of the world. What a location for 


13 



...BUFFALO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS... 


the manufacture of iron, steel and brass, which eventually will form the 
bone and sinew of all our structures, from a bedstead to the largest building. 
The same waters which wash the edge of all the great iron and copper 
mines of the Lake Superior region work their way down to this Mecca at 
the foot of the great Lakes, where natural gas is now piped, and electrical 
power will be produced in quantities, and with a constancy yet unknown 
to the world. It is a point where millions of tons of coal already come an¬ 
nually to find a market, and in time the great whaleback steamers will 
carry grain and ores from distant points in this most attractive Continent 
on the face of the earth to the foot of the lakes at Buffalo, where they will 
be transferred to thousands of busy little crafts which will be propelled by 
electricity through the Erie Canal to the seaboard and port of New York, 
at rates with which no steam railroad can hope to compete. Elevators 
and manufactories will be as numerous on the West bank of the River as 
are now on the East, without conflicting in the least with each other, when 
we get unrestricted trade with Canada and the wonderful resources of the 
North American Continent discovered by Columbus are fully appreciated 
by its inhabitants. Then we can hold a second World’s Fair greater than 
that of 1893. To illustrate the possibilities I have in my mind : One of 
the best friends in my boyhood days went to this phenomenal city of Buf¬ 
falo, taking a position as cashier and aiding in the organization of a bank 
with a capital of only $100,000.00. In a brief period of two years their 
clearings through the Buffalo Clearing House amounted to the enormous 
sum of $22,144,856.17, showing the stuff there is there and the possibilities 
for those engaged in legitimate business. There is one place I never weary 
of sitting, and that is on “The Front,’’ at Buffalo—that beautiful elevation 
overlooking the great lakes, where their waters are gathered together for 
their impetuous rush down through the stone channel of the great Niagara 
River at eight miles an hour, and then subside to a calm as if to gather re¬ 
newed energy for a final rush down the rapids and over the Falls at Ni¬ 
agara. 

When I saw this location for a beautiful Bridge, with a landing on 
the American side, at the very hub of a wheel, you might say, the spokes 


of which lead to a system of parks through a typical American city—the 
admiration of every one who sees it, I care not from what city they come— 
and this wonderful River, with its untold wealth of electrical energy— 
when I saw these the thought occurred to me, what an opportune location 
to build a Memorial Bridge to the inventors of the 19th century, who have 
done so much to make possible the wonderful things which have been ac¬ 
complished. It is claimed that Buffalo has more miles of asphalt paved 
streets than has Paris, Washington or any city in the world, and this Hub, 
the American entrance of the proposed Bridge, seems to be the very start¬ 
ing point for all these beautiful drives. The interesting Bridges of Europe 
are built of stone, which in time crumbles and causes them to lose their 
fine lines, while a Bridge built of steel, kept properly painted, will last for¬ 
ever. It seems as if the age of steel had arrived and the time to construct 
such a Bridge most opportune, that nature had lent her assistance in mak¬ 
ing this particular spot suitable for a Memorial to commemorate the wond¬ 
erful works of the 19th century, and located right in the heart of a beautiful 
American city. It might be said that both approaches to this Bridge would 
be on historic grounds, for on them at the commencement of this century 
brave men fought and planned to destroy each other—brothers, as it were, 
who spoke the same language and came largely from the same ancestors. 
How changed within one hundred years ! Now the tendency is to build 
up, to encourage development and universal intercourse. Then I pictured 
to myself this Bridge built of steel, so elaborate in lacework of iron that it 
would cast in the shadow the work done in stone in the Alhambra in 
Spain—a bridge that people would travel thousands of miles to see and 
feel repaid. But then I said to myself that this is such a commercial world 
that capitalists do not put their money in things to create labor or occu¬ 
pation, but for large returns only. The thought occurred to me that this 
Bridge might be made a Memorial Bridge, and still be self-sustaining by 
utilizing the waters which passed beneath it for energy in the form of elec¬ 
tricity. Who has ever visited Westminister Abbey or the Battlefield of 
Gettysburg, or any place where there is a large collection of tablets, busts 
and records of men and their works, who has not been deeply impressed 


...BUFFALO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS... 


15 


and inspired with ambition and admiration, while singly little attention 
would be given. And who is there entitled to such a collective Memorial 
more than the inventors of the 19th century now just closing, always to be 
known as the Century of Inventions^ as the 14th was of Paintings. Various 
detailed improvements may be made on their inventions, but the discovery 
and foundation was laid during the 19th century and should be so recorded, 
and credit given to the proper persons. Why erect all the monuments in 
the land to Soldier and Statesman, whose laurels would be few had not 
the Inventor given them rapid means of destruction, publication and 
communication ? Yet he it is who is called a crank, and so often burns 
t he midnight oil while others reap the benefit. The very occupation of 
the orator and statesman is a showy one, stimulated by flattery and applause 
from the start to the finish, while the inventor, who is constantly sur¬ 
rounded with discouraging circumstances and yet comes first of all in use¬ 
fulness in the development of the land and sea, receives no eulogy. The 
works of Kings, the Pyramids of Egypt have gone to decay and been lost 
in sand, while this great river has retained the same life and activity, 
and is as fresh and blue now as thousands of years ago. Time seems to 
make no impression on it, and when its value is understood and appre¬ 
ciated it will furnish sustenance and occupation to millions of people who 
will live on its banks and utilize the wonderful resources in Electricity, 
which it is sure to produce and maintain a lasting memorial. 

And I sincerely hope I shall find following and encouragement enough 
among the living inventors and the relatives of those who have gone to 
establish and erect a Memorial Bridge in this wonderful location that shall 
be a perpetual monument to the works that have been accomplished by 
them during the 19th century. A Bridge I purpose to make desperate 
efforts to build at this particular spot anyway, and I do hope it can be 
made a Memorial, largely as mapped out by me. There is an opportunity 
to spend one hundred years developing and perfecting the beauty of the 
structure and Memorial feature, and I believe Electricity will furnish the 
money with which to do it. I do not want to make money out of this 
Bridge for myself or heirs, and I purpose to give free and clear, all unin¬ 


cumbered, all the lands acquired by me on both sides the river, amounting 
to over 100 acres, including over one-half mile of river frontage (as shown 
by solid red on map page 17) of inestimable value on account of its control 
of the situation ; for in no place on earth are there such possibilities of pro¬ 
ducing electrical energy in such quantity. I purpose to give all this land 
free of all incumbrances if an Electrical Medical School and Laboratory can 
be established on it; together with all over 8 per cent, on the present 
capitalization of this Bridge Company, provided it can be mad i a Memorial 
as proposed by me, where can be collectively, conspicuously and indelibly 
recorded the date of birth, death and invention or discovery and number 
of articles sold of each inventor who lived during the 19th century, which 
is the only true estimate of the usefulness of an invention and its benefits 
to mankind. 

I also hope artists and manufacturers who are familiar with this line of 
work will make suggestions and submit by letter sketches for improvements 
which, in their judgment, will increase the beauty or efficiency of this 
Memorial, or in fact, on any of the ideas or plans suggested in this little 
pamphlet; and anything adopted will be liberally paid for, but all com¬ 
munications must be by letter. It seems sad so many of the names of 
inventors we admire more than the beautiful buildings they ornament so 
prominently at the World’s Fair must in a few short months be torn down 
and mingled in fragments together, impossible to separate one from the 
other. It makes me long to see many of them permanently placed in a 
collection where they would be kept bright and clear, to stimulate the coming 
millions that are to inhabit this great Continent to labor and better the 
condition and comfort of mankind. 

[From Chicago Tribune.^ 

Reduction in Prices—What is Reaeeythe Reason—The Inventor 
Did It—H is Busy Brains the Cause of the Lowering of Prices, 
AND Not the Tariff Duties—Goods Chkaper Now Because the 
Machine Replaces Much of Man’s Toil and Renders Labor 
More Productive—Comparison of Prices in 1880 and 1890—A 
Drop All Along the Line. 

During the course of the debate on the Tariff bill Senator Wilson of 


i6 


...BUFFALO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS... 


Iowa made a speech in which he included some statistics, which are given 
below, showing the retail price at Fort Dodge, la., in 1880 and in 1890 of a 
number of farm implements and a variety of articles in constant use by the 
farmer which are to be found in the country store. There is no reason to 
question the accuracy of these figures, which are doubtless true, with slight 
allowances for higher or lower transportation charges, for the entire 
country. 

It will be seen that the point which the Senator from Iowa seeks to 
make is that in spite of what has been said about “ trusts,” ‘‘ monopolies,” 
and ‘‘high prices due to tariffs,” the farmer is getting nearly everything 
for a lower price than of old, and that therefore millionaires and combines 
have not been able to absorb all the benefits of inventive skill. Thus he 
gives some credit to invention as a factor in reducing prices, but there are 
many others in and out of Congress who are all the time telling the farmer 
that it is high duties and nothing but high duties that make his farm 
implements and hardware and store goods cost him less than they did ten 
years ago. It would be rather nearer the truth to say that prices have 
fallen in spite of the high duties. 

But for American inventiveness, aided in some degree by the invention 
of other countries, the probabilities are that the prices of 1890 would have 
been higher than those of 1880, for the demand would have increased so 
rapidly that the old-fashioned methods of manufacture would have been 
unable to meet it. The lowering of prices is the work of the inventor, of 
the man whose busy brains are studying eternally how one man can be en¬ 
abled to do the work of two, five or ten, by means of a machine driven by 
steam power. The intelligent mechanic in mill and factory is all the time 
on the lookout for some labor-saving device, by the aid of which he can do 
more in less time with less trouble. No sooner is an idea wrought out and 
embodied in a machine than many men begin working on the problem 
how it can be improved and made more effective. 

Few outside of the Patent Office have the least idea of the amount of 
brain power which is expended steadily on this problem of the substitution 
of the machine for the man. The public thinks of only a few great inven¬ 


tions—the cotton-gin, the power-loom, the lathe for turning irregular 
forms, the sewing machine and the reaper and mower. It does not know 
of the army of inventors, most of them obscure, who have toiled so assidu¬ 
ously and effectively that while a hundred years ago it might be said that 
everything a man used was hand-made, there is hardly an article used by 
him which is not in part machine-made. The more the machine displaces 
the man the faster the price comes down. 

Agricultural implements cost much less now than in 1880, not because 
they are protected by a duty, but because the quantity of hand labor in 
them is smaller and of machine labor greater. It is invention that has 
cheapened steel. It is invention that has reduced the cost of wood work¬ 
ing. It is invention and little else that has put it in the power of the man¬ 
ufacturer to sell in 1890 for a lower price a self-binder superior in every 
respect to the clumsy one of ten years ago. It may be said that part of the 
reduction in the retail price of these articles is due to lower railroad freights. 
But it is invention that has lowered them. It is invention that has given 
the roads better engines, which do more work with less coal. Invention 
has cheapened steel and made steel for railways possible. 

In the case of barb wire, the high price of ten years ago was due partly 
to the patent royalties which were charged, but the processes of manufac¬ 
ture have been simplified, and that has pulled down the price. Iron nails 
made by hand have been supplanted by steel cut nails made by machine 
and costing much less than the inferior article they replaced. It is impos¬ 
sible to point out a single article in a country store which has not been 
cheapened either because a machine has been invented to make it or the 
machine which used to make it has been simplified and improved, or the 
cost of the raw material has been lowered as the result of some inventor’s 
brains in producing the raw materials. 

Boots and shoes are cheaper because they are hand-made. Woolens, 
blankets, and carpets are cheaper because power looms have taken the 
place of hand looms. Cotton goods are cheaper because of the increased 
efficiency of machinery. With some articles of woolens, however, the 
gains are more apparent than real. The reduction in price has been bought 


BUFFALO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 


17 



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Solid Red ; Property Owned. 

Shaded Red : Property Controlled by Options. 


BUFFALO AND FORT ERIE. 







































































































































































































...BUFFALO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS... 


19 


at the cost of a reduction in quality and the substitution of shoddy for 
wool, due to that very wool tariff which the farmers are told is imposed for 
their “protection.” 

That it is invention and not the tariff which is all the time lowering 
prices is proven by the fact that there has been a similar reduction in all 
other countries. It has taken place in free-trade England as well as in 
protection France, and Germany and Russia. Where invention has been 
most rapid, as in the United States, the fall in price has been proportion¬ 
ately the greatest. Where, as in Eastern Europe, it has been less active 
the drop has been the smallest. Nations may make all the laws they please. 
They may strive to establish and prop up industries, but the beneficial re¬ 
sults thus accomplished are but as a drop in the bucket as compared with 


those due to the genius of the inventor, stimulated by the spur of self in¬ 
terest—saving money—to others in the hope that he may make money for 
himself. 

As regards sugar, there is this to be said : That the refiner paid about 
a cent and a half more for his raw sugar in 1880 than in 1890, so that the 
reduction in price is not owing to the beneficence of the Sugar Trust so 
much as to cheaper raw material, lower railroad rates, and nominal profits 
on the part of all who handle sugar—except the trust. That kerosene oil is 
lower all know. Whether it would not have been lower still had the field 
been open to free competition no one can tell. It is certain that it would 
have been lowered greatly in price even if the Standard Oil Trust had never 
been formed. 














20 



AMERICAN ENTRANCE TO PROPOSED BRIDGE 























































































Chapter II 


Description of the Proposed Bridge 


AND ITS Electrical Producing Powers. 


A gain, as I sat day-dreaming on that Front and saw this wonderful river 
before me with all the waters of the great Lakes pouring through the 
narrow stone channel cut by nature, it dawned upon me, while picturing to 
myself a beautiful Memorial bridge, electric railroads, etc., that this was a 
natural spot for a bridge, anyway, no matter what the kind, and that it 
would be a profitable investment, and there ought to be one built at once; 
to say nothing about the combination of circumstances by which I believed 
every pound of water in the Lakes could be made worth a pound of 
electrical energy over and over again before it passed through to the Ni¬ 
agara Falls. And right here at my feet, connected in such close proximity 
is the Erie Canal, that great free artery of commerce through the Empire 
State on which the products of the great West, with its teeming millions, 
can be transported at a nominal cost and people carried at lOO miles per 
hour on its banks with no grade crossings and with nearly absolute 
safety through the medium of Electricity generated at this one cen¬ 


tral station; impressing me with reverence at what nature has done 
for that wonderful State, New York, and how wisely she has located 
her treasure, in placing the sources of energy directly in the center 
of the line of commerce between those two great distributing points. New 
York and Chicago, of not less than millions of horse-power, working 
night and day, as the earth revolves, with never-ceasing or varying con¬ 
stancy. The Great Lakes, located in the very heart of the best agricultural 
districts in the new w’orld, render the same territory far more capable of 
sustaining larger population than if the same territory was all land, for the 
reason that navigation and intercourse is rendered exceedingly cheap and 
extended, and right of way not monopolized. But the greatest wealth of 
all, in my judgment, is at the foot of this chain of Lakes on account of the 
wonderful Niagara River, the location of which can never be changed; and 
the very merchantable nature of its products insures its value for all time 
to come, and must make this one of the wealthiest spots on the face of 


21 




22 


...DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE... 


the earth. And so impressed was I with this fact that I bought all the land 
which I possibly could secure on the banks of this, nature’s great mill-race; 
and I believe I am not far astray when I make the statement that the 
wealth of the Great Lakes, covering half a continent, brought by nature 
to this harvesting place, is a greater wealth—and will be found so in time 
—than an equal number of acres ripened each year into the best crop of 
wheat or corn that this particular locality which the Lakes cover is capable 
of producing. All these waters assume a merchantable shape in this river 
at the foot of these Lakes; where there are no floods, yet more fresh 
water passing than at any spot on earth ; always clear and blue as the sky 
above, so unlike the other large rivers of the country. You can look down 
deep into it, and you will soon be lost in thought, and for hours you can 
sit on its banks lost in meditation—a river which no man with a soul can 
study without feeling a reverence, bringing him nearer his Creator than 
all the sermons and churches in the land, and I believe one half-hour spent 
on the banks of the Niagara Falls will do a man more good than a vear’s 
attendance at church. 

The wonders of this great river are yet unknown and undeveloped, 
especially in the electrical line; this wonderful energy so useful, so easily 
transported, through the medium of which we can produce the jewel light 
so fast superceding all others, through the medium of which we can talk 
to our nearest friends one hundred miles away, through the medium of 
which most of our city people are carried to and from their homes; and 
soon all high-class travel will be done by electricity at the speed of one 
hundred miles or more an hour, and machinery run from the heaviest 
hoisting machine to the most delicate dental lathe. 

An element of so many uses can never be a glut in the market, no 
matter how great the quantity produced. It is prophesied that one hun¬ 
dred years from now, when the great coal beds of the country are practically 
exhausted, this wonderful river will furnish the energy to run our rail¬ 
roads and machinery, heat our houses and do largely the physical work of 
man ; and that the rise and fall of the tides will provide for the sea-coast 
towns. I estimate that at least six of these wonderful power producing 


plants can be advantageously located between the mouth of the Niagara 
River and Grand Island, three miles below, each one of which will utilize 
the weight of the water over and over again, producing a grand total of 
six million horse power, to say nothing of the power which can be pro¬ 
duced at the lower end of the river near the city of Niagara Falls. The 
location can never be changed or elements destroyed or the earning power 
abate or cease even for one instant; only when the sun loses its rays, by 
which the water of the ocean is evaporated, the winds cease to blow, that 
carry the million of tons of water over the great continent. When this change 
takes place, the candle will have gone out, the earth be still, all electric 
energy will have flown, and this wonderful river will have dried up and 
the world become dead forever. Just think of it, here through this chan¬ 
nel cut in solid rock flows every minute over two billion pounds of water, 
fully 6o per cent, of which can be utilized for Electrical energy; and the 
more you load down your wheels, the more power you get, as the weight 
of the waters of half a continent is back of you for power. Counting at the 
rate of loo per minute, ten hours a day, 365 days in a year, it would take 
over one hundred years for a man to count the number of pounds of water 
which pass this point in one minute, and over 6,000 years to count the 
number of pounds of water which pass in a single hour. It is said the 
greatest rise and fall known to the oldest observer, excepting the temporary 
rise.due to wind, is only a few inches, and this river is never known to 
freeze. Now, assuming that we can put these great wheels as described in 
the following chapter so as not to interfere wdth navigation, all of which 
to me is perfectly practical, what would the 1,575,000,000 pounds of 
energy per minute be worth, based on the present price of coal, which will 
never be less than now ? With the best and most improved compound 
engines, they are now able to produce one horse power per hour with three 
pounds of coal (it used to take eight to ten pounds). Hence one horse 
power would cost for 24 hours 72 pounds of coal, we will say, at $5.00 per 
ton, which would be one-quarter of one cent per lb.; this makes the actual 
cost of steam power 18 cents per horse power for 24 hours, to say nothing 
about fireman, stoker, engineer, oil, etc. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE. 


2 





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24 


DESCRlPnON OF THE PROPOSED BRIDG 



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LOOKING IN. 


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...DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE... 


25 


Now, say we could utilize all the energy passing through this flume, 
we have 1,574,892,000 divided by 33,000 equals 47,724 H. P., at 18 cents 
would be worth per day $8,590.32, or $3,135,466.80 per year in electrical 
energy. This is figuring on the weight of water passing through the chan¬ 
nel without any reserve force. Now, figuring that the reserved force is 
unlimited, which is practically the case, we ■will base our calculations on 
the strength of the structure as designed by me as to the measurement or 
estimate of horse-pow'er which can be developed. The truss or arch under 
my bridge, as shown, is figured to stand a load of 1,000,000 pounds, with 
the factory safety of 5,000,000. The trusses of Machinery Hall are figured to 
\ stand a strain of 5,340 lbs. per lineal foot, or 1,068,000 for one span with a 

factory safety of 5,000,000, giving us the grand total strength in one span of 
say, 12,068,000 pounds. For calculation, however, we will say we load 
down the wheel with a pressure of 5,000,000 pounds, leaving 7,000,000 
pounds as factory safety, with the river moving at the rate of 700 feet per 
minute, which is its average speed; we will have a power equal to 3,500,- 
000,000 pounds moving one foot per minute, divided by 33,000, which is equal 
to a fraction over 100,000 horse power to each wheel which, at 18 cents 
would be worth $18,000 a day or only $6,570,000 per year for each wheel; and 
eight 200 ft. wheels which can be easily thrown across without interfering 
with navigation, would leave a gross revenue of only about $50,000,000 a year, 
with very little for expenses and depreciation; for generators require very 
little attention when once put in operation and have few complicated 
parts to get out of order or wear out. 

There is no commodity, in my judgment, in fifty years, which will 
have the market value of Electricity, for the reason it can be utilized for so 
many things to add to the comfort of man. While this globe of ours is 
only one of many millions in the universe, it is everything to us who are 
on it; and while there are many marked spots on its face, none are so deep 
or grand, in my judgment, as this particular spot at the foot of Lake Erie. 
There is only one Niagara and one Niagara River, and its might cannot be 
diminished or location changed. I estimate enough power can be pro¬ 
duced easily by one of these Power-Bridges described by me to run a train 


from Chicago to New York every twenty minutes and transport by Canal 
Boat a large share of the products of the West, and have enough left to run 
the machinery of Buffalo and vicinity. As stated before, I believe the 
power of this wheel is only limited by the load put upon it, and by the 
strength of the link-belts and structure as above figured, as each inch which 
the water is raised, on account of being held back by the wheel adds mill¬ 
ions of pounds to its energy. 

To thoroughly demonstrate and prove the practicability of my ideas, I 
have gone to large expense to construct a model of this proposed Wheel 
and Bridge for producing power, on an exact scale of one-half inch to the 
foot; every part of which is exact, and to build a full-sized one there is 
only need of enlargement of each part in its proportions. There can be 
no mistake; everything is worked out, even to its minutest details—even 
to the weight and thickness of iron used in the structure ; and ■with in¬ 
creased size, a smoother working of parts and better results have always been 
obtained. In other words, while it is exceedingly difiicult to make a per¬ 
fect model of a steam engine to run smoothly, a large sized one with the 
.same construction works very easily and with much better results. I figure 
the total weight of one span of this Bridge, including the arches and gird¬ 
ers, is 1,089,111 pounds ; of the Wheel 460,000 pounds. In this model of 
the Bridge there are over 5,000 flat pieces, 7,000 angle pieces, 50,000 rivets. 
In the Wheel there are over 6,000 flat pieces, 3,000 angles and 20,000 rivets, 
all of which were put together by hand—giving some conception of the 
work necessaiy to build it—and close inspection will show it quite an in¬ 
teresting study. In designing my motors for the Electrical part of this 
great power-house, I have copied very close after those of the Narragansett 
Electric Lighting Co., Providence, R. I., all of which are geared directly 
on the shaft and guaranteed to give an efficiency of 94 per cent. I have no 
hesitancy in saying the happiest moment in my life would be to see some 
of these great 200-foot Wheels (you might say a block long and as high as 
a three story building) revolving under the spans of a beautiful Bridge 
geared with nature’s great work, the Niagara River, and licking up its 
Electrical energy with a constancy and quantity which will astonish the 


26 


...DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE... 


world and enable workers in that field to accomplish things now unheard 
of; and the next will be to see a train of cars running by its power at a 
speed of not less than one hundred (loo) miles per hour and the boats 
on the Erie Canal propelled by it. All of which, I believe, is perfectly 
practical, and we shall see it before the close of this century. 

In designing, I have planned the ornamentation of the bridge so it can 
be made as expensive in iron as point lace in thread, as I believe in future 
years there will be a large excess earning which may be used at fair wages 
to give employment to skilled workmen. And though it may take genera¬ 
tions, the ornamentations on this bridge can be made something beautiful. 
The construction of the wheel is such and the bracing so placed that 
were it made of one solid piece of metal of the thickness of half of its 
diameter it could not be stiffer than this system of bracing now makes it. 
The torque is also provided for, and the whole design I submit to the crit¬ 
icism of engineers and people familiar with iron work and its construction. 

While I am a great admirer of the Ferris Wheel, there is nothing 
especially new in the principles of its construction. It only demonstrates 
the possibility of producing almost anything, no matter what the size, so 
long as the financial returns are promising. In my wheel the shaft is con¬ 
structed of Phoenix columns with web plates and angles, trusses and rivets; 
and we have it so compact it would carry many times its own weight; and 
as each part balances and the compression and strain are brought to zero 
at the center, so it would be in a full sized wheel, for the relative strength of 
the metal is the same, the only difference being in the increased size. I 
believe by this great, slow moving, powerful wheel in natural or artificial 
channels, cut on the sea-coast, the rise or fall of the tides can be utilized 
to create electric currents for light and power, and by it we will have 
electricity for light and power and heat in the same abundance that we 
have everything else in nature; and that it will be proven the larger the 
dynamo the more the volume and the greater and better the results. 

So I think it is possible to build this great wheel of steel that shall turn 
continuously by simply renewing the bearings ; and if, by chance, the 
largest log rolled down against it, it would make no more impression than 


a stick of cord wood would on a New York ferry-boat. Ice would be easily 
ground into atoms. The boom of logs or air-tight pipes, (as shown in the 
frontispiece), put in service as soon as navigation opens, and sunk or easily 
taken away when it closes in the winter, would prevent the possibility of 
any boats or crafts being carried on to the wheel, and ice in the winter 
would have no more effect than it does on the ferry-boats of New 
York harbor. In fact, the great size and strength of the wheel would liken 
it to an ocean steamer, which is now built so staunch and strong it seems 
to actually conquer the elements of nature; and a child could handle this 
great and wonderful wheel like a toy by the aid of hydraulic cylinders, 
and on a moment’s notice raise it lo or 15 feet out of water. 

The tensile strength of the link belts used at present is 70,000 pounds 
per square inch of metal. I figure the cross section of one of the link 
belts, which would be used on this wheel, would be 6x2 inches; one belt 
would pull over 840,000 pounds, at the rate of 700 feet per minute, which 
would harmonize with the other strengths of the structure. 

There are so many different opinions as to the number of horse power 
one of these great wheels would produce, only actual experiment will dem¬ 
onstrate beyond a doubt, but in any event it must be very large ; and no 
matter how damp and disagreeable a place these link belts have to work in, 
they do it thoroughly. They work as well under water as in the dryest 
room. The loss of friction is said to be less than in any other means 
of communicating powder. They can be lengthened or shortened by remov¬ 
ing a link, and each belt works independently of the other, so if found de¬ 
sirable to put more work on one end of the wheel than on the other to 
provide for the current being swifter in center of rivers than near the banks 
it can be easily done. They are now doing the labor of thousands of men, 
carrying ore from the mine to the mill, coal from the bins to the car, and I 
believe I shall soon see them utilized to surround such a great water wheel 
as I propose. 

There would be no possibility of ice choking up between the piers, as 
it would be ground into atoms. There are two bearings at each end of the 
shaft by which duplicates can be replaced without interfering with the 


DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE 


27 



SIDE eeevation of one span of proposed bridge, 









































































































28 


DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED BRIDGE. 


other, and if a paddle gets broken or bent it is easily renewed. I can 
not see a serious objection that cannot be overcome, and, to me, the prac¬ 
ticability of this great power-producing wheel is so well demonstrated and 
proven by my model and calculations that there can be no mistake. The 
returns would be so large for the capital invested that it must be a success 

THIS IS THE DAY OF BIG THINGS. 

Engineering and Mining youtnal : “ There is a notable tendency in in 

dustrial enterprises in recent times not only to concentrate capital into 
large concerns but to have structures and machinery of the largest possible 
kind and to drive it with extreme rapidity. This is pre-eminently the day 
of big things, using the word in its ordinary sense to mean large, massive, 
heavy, and bulky. Ocean steamships are growing larger and more power¬ 
ful. Locomotives, cars, railway tracks, bridges, are all made heavier. 
Blast furnaces have increased in size, and their output has increased enor¬ 
mously, so that a product of 300 tons a day is no more uncommon than one 
of 300 tons a week was twenty years ago. A Bessemer steel works has re¬ 
cently made the record of 30,000 tons of steel in one month. Open hearth 
furnaces are now erected with a capacity of thirty tons, or three times the 
capacity of those of ten years ago. In rolling-mills the .same progress has 
been shown. A plate was rolled in Pittsburg 30 inches wide by 85 feet 
long, y% inch thick, weighing 7,480 pounds. 

“ In steam and electric engineering the same tendency is seen. At the 
Homestead Steel Works, Pittsburg, there is about to be placed one of the 
the largest Corliss engines in the world, with a horizontal cylinder 54x72 
inches. The fly wheel will weigh 200,000 pounds. The total weight of the 
engine will be over 500,000 pounds, and it is expected to develop 3,500 
horse-power. The Corliss engine, the largest in the world, was built at the 
Soho Iron Works, Bolton, England. It is of 5,000 horse-power, of the ver¬ 
tical type, and stands forty-eight feet high. It is designed to drive the 
Ferranti dynamos, forty-five feet in diameter, mentioned below. The 
West End electric railway station in Boston is to have thirteen engines of 


1,000 horse-power each. They are to be triple compound, with cylinders 
21, 36 and 52 inches in diameter. The power is transmitted by two belts 
for each engine, each belt five feet wide. Steam will be furnished by 
twenty-four water-tube boilers, each rated at 500 horse-power. The new 
cable railway station of the West Side Cable Railway in Chicago has two 
Greene engines, each 36x72 inches; each engine weighs 238,000 pounds, 
and has a capacity of 1,200 horse-power. We recently described the Bel- 
paire boilers and Leavitt hoisting engines at the Calumet and Hecia mine, 
and now we have a description of a new water-tube boiler designed by T. 
F. Morrill of Jersey City, which is located at the W’estinghouse electric 
light station in Twenty-fourth street. New York city. It contains 600 
three-inch water tubes of a peculiar bent shape, expanded at each end into 
internal cylinder forty-eight inches in diameter. The aggregate length of 
the tubes is 7,200 feet, or about a mile and a half, and the boiler has 6,000 
feet of heating surface, and is said to be capable of developing 1,000 horse 
power. 

“ The Ferranti dynamos used in the Deptford lighting stations weigh 
500 tons each. 

“ Two dynamos of 10,000 lamp capacity are being made for Berlin, each 
of which will require about 1,000 horse-power. 

‘ ‘ There are no data now existing which will enable any one to predict 
what will be the size of boilers, engines, dynamos, steamships, bridges, 
cars, locomotives, office buildings, and other structures ten years hence. 
Everything in the engineering line seems to be changing at a more rapid 
rate than at any previous period. Certainly the limit to increase of size 
does not j^et appear. When the single engine reached its limits in ship¬ 
building the compound engine came in. When shafts and screws seemed 
to have grown as large as they could be made twin screws and shafts were 
used, and at the same time facilities for making still larger shafts and 
screws were perfected. So it is in every branch of engineering ; as soon as 
a limit is fixed some one finds a way of overleaping it and the limit is 
placed further ahead.” 



Chapter III 


Needs oe the Proposed Electrical Medical School and Laboratory 

FOR Establishing Standards in the Sciences of 
Medicine and Electricity. 


I ONCE had a very dear friend who was advised to have a surgical opei‘ 
ation performed to relieve him of a slight inconvenience which had 
existed for a long time. He hesitated for years, but finally one afternoon 
he was feeling unusually well, and made up his mind he would submit to 
the operation, with the assurance and belief it was unattended with danger. 
What were my feelings, after seeing him on the street only twenty-four 
hours before, to hear that he was dead ; he died during an operation supposed 
to be free from danger. 

Another case I call to mind was the result of La Grippe, in which a 
friend went to three of the most prominent physicians in Chicago and was 
treated for weeks with no relief, in the meantime suffering great pain and 
total absence from his office; through the advice of a third party who had 
been successfully treated in a similar case, he went to a fourth physician 
who gave him almost immediate relief, which if understood by the others, 
would have saved him much unnecessary suffering. 

Again, I know of a doctor who placarded a house “Diphtheria,” 
and two or three days after, when the family had become ostracised and 
all neighbors frightened, the Doctor discovered that he had made a mistake 
and had a case of bronchitis. 


Another case : a Doctor orders a patient to the hospital for a most 
contagious disease, and it develops after he gets there into pneumonia, and 
death results from the exposure attending taking the patient to the 
hospital. 

In fact, nearly every day we read of the unexpected death of some 
unfortunate who has been induced to take chloroform or some anaesthetic 
to kill pain, which is supposed to be so thoroughly understood, or at least 
should be, that death is out of the question ; showing how important that 
standard information and positive knowledge of all drugs should be had 
under different conditions with infallible certainty, the same as the 
strength of metals of various kinds is understood by engineers with 
absolute accuracy. 

It seems as if each generation of physicians spent half their lives experi¬ 
menting, and you frequently find one hundred going through the same 
experimental stages at the same time in the same city, when the same 
experiment should never be tried twice after once established results are 
proven. But they seem to work largely independent of each other, and no 
matter how much suffering they cause, do a large amount of experimental 
work. Had we proper laws existing, holding them responsible for their 


29 



3 ° 


ELECTRICAL MEDICAL SCHOOL AND LABORATORY. 


errors, we should have less experimenting. Why should they not be 
responsible for their acts, as well as a banker, or a merchant, who, if he 
gives poor credit, suffers the consequences ? A manufacturer who builds 
wrongly has to make it good. Responsibility attached, makes men more 
careful, and what is loss of money compared to the life or the health of 
a friend? Hence, I claim that experimenting should be limited to proper 
places and persons, and standards established. It also seems strange that 
you seldom find two doctors of the same opinion and it is an invariable 
rule if you call on five doctors to make a diagnosis of a case no two will 
have the same opinion. It certainly seems as if infallible tests for all these 
most common diseases could be worked out and understood by all in the 
profession, the same as a goldsmith can tell pure gold from alloy. 

What would we think of two mariners who wanted to go to the same 
place and one said : “I will go south-west,” the other “ I will go north¬ 
east;” one, of course, must be wrong. Proven rules should regulate the 
course to be taken by all. The working of nature, when understood, 
always comes out the same under similar circumstances. How much 
more I admire a machinist who works over his lathe with such care ; who 
measures and sets his calipers so that mistakes are impossible; and feels 
his way as his w'ork progresses; also, the engineer who digs a tunnel 
miles in length, bringing the ends together from opposite directions within 
the fraction of an inch. Why is it these artisans make no mistakes? 
Simply because when cutting the tunnel they must have their rules and 
lines to work from, and lay aside their tools until they are given them, 
and know they are right and take no chances. As a pattern maker 
from his varied length rule knows the exact shrinkage of all the metals, so 
a physician should know to a certainty the results of his drugs, from proven 
experiment on persons of different temperaments and physical conditions. 

The idea of a statesman devoting so much time legislating to protect 
moneyed rights and so little time to protect health I think is wrong. The 
strictest laws should be passed to prevent abuse and experimenting by 
practitioners, also the sale to the public of patent medicines which have no 
merit, for I believe thousands are robbed of their mothers, fathers, sisters 


and brothers each year by the use of these wholesale compounds. 

To rob a man of his money is nothing compared to robbing him of his 
relatives and friends, though one has all sorts of penalties attached while 
the other is forgotten and no recourse or responsibility attached to any one, 
under the present laws. Doctors claim excuse for mistakes they make 
that drugs act differently on different patients; so will different metals 
shrink to different sizes. But tell the pattern maker what you want cast 
and he will ask from what metal you propose to make it, and work with a 
rule graded to allow for shrinkage of that metal, so that he knows exactly 
how he is coming out ; and it seems to me as if the same infallible rules 
could be w'orked out with drugs. 

Hence, what I would like to see, would be a sort of headquarters, a 
center where no expense would prevent the possibility of establishing 
nature’s laws on all subjects in medicine and electricity and prove their 
correctness in many ways; and when established let them be authen¬ 
ticated from proper sources of such high character there can be no decep¬ 
tion, and give them out to the world to be used accordingly, and hold all 
responsible who violate the laws established for their use. For instance, 
it seems as if there must be some infallible proof for diptheria, by which 
any person—physician or not—could know its presence by certain tests; 
the best way of treating such cases should be known to all and not treated 
so differently by as many different physicians. 

There should be such an Institution for establishing standards in 
drugs, compounds and medicines, and their positive workings under 
different conditions, with a handsome reward of not less than |io,ooo in 
money and a diploma, for any person, male or female, who first discovers 
an infallible or unmistakable cure for any of the numerous diseases so 
common ; and let the cure of loo cases of different ages and physical con¬ 
ditions be sufficient evidence to entitle one to the reward and to place the 
remedy on the list of standards, for the treatment of that particular 
disease, which all the doctors should be required to use in treatment of such 
cases as it is known to cure. 

The trustees who should have charge of this Institution and the distri- 


ELECTRICAL MEDICAL SCHOOL AND LABORATORY. 


31 


butioii of the funds should be elected by a majority of the stockholders of 
this proposed Bridge and Power Co. The gross and net earnings should 
be a matter of public record each year, so that one-half of all surplus after 
having paid the fixed charges and expenses (not to exceed 8 per cent, on 
its capitalization), must be devoted to the proposed Electrical and Medical 
School as above stated, and the other half to maintenance, development 


and the beautifying of the bridge and surroundings; and under no circum¬ 
stances must the capital be increased or watered. You will observe by 
placing a conservative estimate on what I believe would be left each 
year, over and above the 8 per cent, on its capitalization and which 
would be available for the above mentioned purpose, the amount would 
be very large each year. 










c 



:r •v* 


A 


Chapter IV 


Unrestricted Trade Between the United States and Canada. 


M y relations with Canada, both with individuals, attorneys and the 
government, have been of such an exceedingly pleasant nature, that 
it makes me feel we have much to learn from and imitate in their modest 
but quick and satisfactory way of doing business, especially in the transfer 
of lands, keeping records, etc. As an illustration,—it became necessary, in 
order to perfect the title to one piece of property which I bought in Canada, 
to have the government confirm the title; and after filing my proofs and 
petitions, I judged, from our wa}' of doing things, it would be about two 
years before I got any action; but. within six weeks I received the confirm¬ 
atory deeds, duly signed and executed by the Lieutenant Governor General, 
a thing which in my country, I believe would have been attended with 
great delay and expense. 

The Canadian system of abstracts and recording of deeds, I think, is 
certainly better than ours, and one feels perfectly secure in lands pur¬ 
chased there, and I think the price way below the true value, and feel 
confident it is only a matter of time, and not a very long time, when those 
in power will realize the possibilities of their wonderful country, and the 
advantages of unrestricted trade ; when we shall know in commerce, no 
North, no South, East or West on this great continent; and values will 
become generally equalized. 

I once sold a Canadian patent, which I owned, to some parties in 
Montreal, which gave me a splendid opportunity of studying their system 
of conducting factories. From the enterprise displayed, and the adapt¬ 


ability to circumstances, I made up my mind they could give some of our 
Boston or Lynn shoe manufacturers (as my investigations were in that line) 
a hard rub in an open market; and I know there are manufacturers of 
gloves in Canada, who could out-class some of our American manufacturers 
in this market. So I do not see what they have to fear in American man¬ 
ufacturers ; and why they should drive their sons and daughters to the 
United States, as the following article will show, is more than I can under¬ 
stand. It seems as if a third of my acquaintances in Chicago, in a social 
and business way, were from Canada, and I think there is no exaggeration 
in the following extract: 

MANY VACANT HOUSES IN TORONTO. 

THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE DESERTING CANAD.A FOR THE UNITED 

ST.VTES. 

A correspondent of the New York Tribune writes that paper as follows: 

“ The situation in Canada is pretty clearly manifested by the condition 
of real estate in Toronto, the commercial, financial, political, and manu¬ 
facturing capital of Ontario. The Toronto Globe reports that there are at 
the present time more than 3,000 vacant houses in that city. The Empire, 
the leading Tory organ, places the number at 7,000. A leading Torontonian 
who called upon me a few days ago, who is largely interested in real estate 
there, informed me that 5,000 is a conservative estimate. The population 
of Toronto is about one-ninth that of New York. Imagine 45,000 vacant 


33 




34 UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 


houses in New York. At five persons per house it represents houses for 
25,000 people, or one-seventh of the population. Toronto, next to Mon¬ 
treal, is the chief importing city of the Dominion. It has direct railway 
connection vdth all parts of Ontario. Nine lines of railway enter the city 
from the west, north and east. It is the chief grain, cattle, hog, and lard 
market of the province. It has an abundance of banking capital. 

“ The Province of Ontario, from Bellisle on the east to the Detroit and 
St. Clair Rivers on the west, is one of the best agricultural sections on this 
continent. The province is not only free from debt, but has a surplus of 
several million dollars. The pine lands owned by the province are of great 
value and yield a large annual revenue. For the last twenty years the Hon. 
Oliver Minot has been Premier and has administered the public affairs of 
Ontario with great ability and strict integrity. The people of Ontario as a 
body are unsurpassed in any country in the elements of character which 
insure success. 

“ The mineral possibilities of the province are unlimited. The climate 
is healthful and invigorating. The educational institutions are not sur¬ 
passed in any State in this Union. 

“Notwithstanding all these advantages the most ambitious and enter¬ 
prising of young Canadian men and women are coming to us from the agri¬ 
cultural garden of the Dominion by tens of thousands, and yet Mr. Wiman 
tells us that “ discontent does not exist in Canada.” It is the exodus from 
Canada to this country which is depopulating Toronto. No wonder Mr. 
Wiman is intensely anxious to have us open our markets to his countrymen. 
He predicted three years ago in his public addresses in Canada that the 
very condition of affairs which now exist would come to pass unless we 
gave Canada reciprocity. 

“ For doing so the life-loyal Tories denounced him. There is not any 
good reason why we should attempt to prevent young Canadians from coming 
to us freely. They are the very best material for making American citizens 
that come to us. Let them come. Give them a hearty welcome. We car. 
endure it as long as Canada can. This morning I saw a letter from a piom- 
inent citizen of Western Ontario, in which he says : 


“ ‘ I have attended every meeting of the Continental union movement 
which has been held, and am in a position to tell you positively that up to 
the present we have discovered that about nine-tenths of the people are 
favorable, are, in fact, enthusiastic, in its support; that reports sent out¬ 
ward have not been exaggerated in the least. The farmers are particularly 
strong in itssupport. The Continental Union ciubhas letters from all parts 
of Canada, all of which tell the same story—namely ; that people believe 
in the movement, but are a little timid as individuals in taking a step for¬ 
ward unless they are positive they will be accompanied by their neighbors 
and friends.’ 

“The above statement confirms what I have been telling the readers of 
the Tribune for the last five years. The people are ready for a leader to 
raise the flag of independence or political union, in whom they have confi¬ 
dence, and they will gladly and enthusiastically follow him. The Hon. 
Fdward Blake is such a leader, and I have faith to believe that at no distant 
day he will nobly assume the responsibility of leadership and unite the two 
great English-speaking families of this continent, and thereby create the 
most potential nation upon the earth.” 

And this is my explanation of how it was possible to step in and buy a 
half mile of River frontage at the foot of a chain of great lakes, at the low 
price at which I bought, because the wonderful natural advantages are 
restricted by mistaken loyalty, when, in my judgment, far truer loyalty 
would be shown, by doing everything possible to develop the value of 
property, the prosperity and happiness of the people. 

The natural resources and fertility of the country on the Canadian side 
of the Niagara River and adjacent thereto, are certainly sometfiing remark¬ 
able, as oil wells and natural gas are abundant—in fact the latter is now 
piped right to the river front, where a natural harbor could be easily formed 
of sufficient size to transfer all the coal and grains from the Northwest for 
shipment in smaller crafts or cars to the East. Such a natural location for 
a manufacturing site, in my judgment, is nowhere to be found as on the 
Canadian side of the Niagara River at the foot of the great Lakes, and my 
faith in the future of this country lies in the fact that the nearer the people 


UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 35 


rule the more certain the development of the world’s natural advantages, 
and every year the people grow stronger and wiser; hence the develop¬ 
ment of the natural advantages in this particular locality is certainly only 
a question of time. 

Taking the Court House of the city of Buffalo as a center, a circle 
drawn with a radius of three miles as shown in the map, page 17, will take 
in, as indicated by the red ink blocks, the land purchased by me on account 
of my faith in the future of this locality. To buy the same quantity on the 
American side, wdthin the same radius, would be simply out of the ques¬ 
tion, even if millions upon millions w'ere paid for it. What an object lesson 
—the same climate, the same locality, simply a throttling of nature by a 
mistaken policy. 

I cannot refrain from alluding again to that wonderful Niagara River, 
whose channel is hewn by nature in stone, and only a little link left to be 
forged by the ingenuity of man to develop electricity in unlimited quan¬ 
tities. 

How can lands located in a most healthful climate at the foot of great 
Lakes fail to become of great value ? Moreover, it is a fascinating spot 
full of historical interest, and I do not believe those whose thoughts are of 
war realize what a battlefield this has been; as well as a study for the geol¬ 
ogist, the artist, and greatest of all, the electrician. Nearly every town 
and village on both banks of this river, from Buffalo to Fort Niagara was 
burned at least once by opposing armies, during the war of 1812; and it 
may not be inopportune to give an account here of one of the battles, fought 
on its banks, to show the kind of men our ancestors were, both British, 
Canadian and American. When one reads this article and considers that 
only muzzle loading flint lock muskets were used at that time, he cannot 
help but be filled with admiration and amazement at the w'onderful cool¬ 
ness, bravery and accuracy of the firing that was done with these cumber¬ 
some weapons ; w'here every charge of powder had to be measured from a 
powder horn to the hand, from the hand to the muzzle of the gun, the ram¬ 
rod drawn and charge rammed home, pan of the lock examined, and if the 
powder was not well primed in a hole not larger than a pin, it was neces¬ 


sary to prime it with a few grains from the fingers—a very slow and tedious 
task, during the excitement of a battle; and it is more than I can under¬ 
stand how such execution was done. There could have been no careless 
aim; every shot must have counted or the execution could not have been 
so terrible. This leads me to allude to one incident which occurred upon 
the banks of this wonderful river which, alone, ought to make every British 
and Canadian heart have a tender spot for the Americans. At the time of the 
funeral of the brave General Brock, the commander of the British forces, 
and President of Upper Canada who had been killed a few days before on 
the battlefield, together wnth his Aid-decamp, Lieut. Col. John McDonnell, 
all hostilities ceased on the part of the Americans, and as the procession 
passed on the opposite bank of the river from Queenston to Fort George, 
the Americans muffled their drums and fired minute guns as a salute; 
showing the feeling that underlies this heathenish way of settling disputes, 
with the lives of great men who might have lived for years to have enjoyed 
life and developed and refined the world. 

ACCOUNT OF CAPTURE OF FORT ERIE AND BATTLE OF 
LUNDY’S LANE AS TAKEN FROM A 
CANADIAN PUBLICATION. 

“With the coming Spring of 1814 the American army, which had been 
drilling for several months and largely re-inforced, made several move¬ 
ments under Wilkinson in Lower Canada, but owdng to the heroic defence 
which the Canadians made the Americans were obliged to retire badly 
beaten. Brigadiers Scott and Ripley, on July 3rd, 1814, crossed the Niagara 
River to Fort Erie on the Canadian side with a force of nearly 4,000 soldiers. 
Major Buck, who held Fort Erie with a small force of British soldiers, not 
more than 200 in number, surrendered wdthout resistance. 

“ The Canadians at this time on the Peninsula, were not greater than 
1,800 in numbers. Major-General Riall, who now conianded them, deter¬ 
mined to contest every inch of ground and stop the advancement of the 
enemy, who greatly outnumbered him in men, and had heavier artillery. 

“ The day after capturing Fort Erie and the small garrison, Gen. Brown 




36 UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 


and a body of American troops marched down the shores of Niagara River, 
nearly to Chippawa, where he went into camp, and fortified his position. 
Gen. Riall, having been re-inforced by several hundred troops, on the after¬ 
noon of the 5th, wdth a force of nearly 2,800 men, attacked Gen. Brown’s 
position, who was strongly supported by artillery. Gen. Brown’s men 
withstood the several assaults made upon their front by the main body of 
Gen. Riall’s troops, who made the assault with great desperateness, only 
to be driven back again and again by the solid front and scathing fire of 
the Americans. Unable to break the American line, Gen. Riall gave the 
order to retreat, leaving 300 wounded, and 137 killed, upon the field of 
battle. Strongly posted, si:pported by heavy artillery, and their superior 
force, enabled the Americans to gain the day, with a loss of only about one- 
half that the Canadians received. The Americans rested upon the field, 
while Gen Riall, in good order, retreated, without receiving any more loss 
from the enemj', who seemed, for some reason, not to realize the advan¬ 
tage gained. Gen. Riall, after leaving a small number of re-inforcements 
in the forts around Niagara, retreated to Twelve Mile Creek, where he 
threw up light earth-works, and otherwise made preparations to resist 
any attack which the Americans might make, should they follow him. 

“ With the expectation of being supported by the American fleet under 
Commander Chauncy, on Lake Ontario, Gen. Brown moved with his entire 
force toward Niagara, with the intention of attacking Forts Niagara, George 
and Mississagua; but learning that Commodore Yeo’s vessels were active, 
and outnumbered Chauncy’s fleet, he, without attacking the forts, on the 
24th July, retreated to Chippawa, closely followed by Gen. Riall, who had 
received a small reinforcement. Part of Gen. Riall’s force reached the 
vicinity of Lundy’s Lane, early on the morning of the 25th July, and a 
small force of dragoons were sent forward to learn the enemy’s position, 
who were in camp at Chippawa. 

“Gen. Brown, fearing his munitions of war would be taken at Sclosser 
bv Tucker, who was moving towards that place on the opposite side of the 
river with a force, determined to move with part of his troops upon Queens- 
ton, and make Tucker retire to Niagara. With the ist Brigade battery of 


Artillery and Cavalry, Gen. Scott, under orders from Major-General Brown, 
moved his force towards the Falls; when, meeting the British, he sent a 
courier to Brown for assistance. Gen. Drummond, who had started from 
Kingston with a force, had now reached within supporting distance of Gen. 
Riall, whom he determined to reinforce. Moving forward with 800 regulars 
he found that Gen. Riall had his advance pickets driven in ; and that part 
of his force was retreating toward Queenston, before the superior force of 
Gen. Scott. Gen. Drummond by dispatching an aid-de-camp, stayed the 
retreat, and the troops were turned back towards Lundy’s Lane. In the 
meantime, Gen. Drummond, by acting quickly, had gained a po.sition near 
a small church, which at that time stood on the summit near the eminence 
which at the present day overlooks the village of Drummondville. Here 
he placed a battery of five guns, and a short distance to the right and in 
the advance he placed two six-pounders. The position was one of advan¬ 
tage ; for from this point a good view could be had of the movements of the 
enemy’s forces; and the battery which w'as placed here did great execution 
during the battle which followed. In rear of the battery General Drum¬ 
mond placed a detachment of the Royal Scots, the 89th, Regiment, and 
several companies of the 41st. To the right of the battery he posted a force 
of militia, and a detachment of regulars. This formed Gen. Drummond’s 
line of battle—a force between fifteen and sixteen hundred men—while the 
enemy had a force of nearly five thousand men. Hardly had General 
Drummond taken his position, before a force of 2,000 men, commanded by 
General Scott, supported by a Brigade under General Ripley, and a force 
of Cavalry commanded by General Porter, hurled themselves against Gen¬ 
eral Drummond’s position. For nearly an hour the battle -raged, and the 
dead and dying that strewed the ground attested the desperate courage 
with which both sides fought. At this juncture General Ripley came on 
the field with a brigade and battery, to support General Scott, who now, 
with his greatly superior force, outflanked General Drummond’s position, 
by swinging around his left to the rear of where the militia and regulars 
had been posted ; and by this movement, for a short time, gained possession 
of the road. The militia and regulars by this movement of the enemy. 


UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN 


were forced to the brow of the hill where the battery had been placed ; 
here they heroically held their position; and with the Royal Scots, the 
89th and the companies of the 41st, the enemy was completely checked in 
the front and rear ; for during the few minutes in which this took place, 
the Americans were making the most desperate assaults upon the centre, 
only to be hurled back again and again by the fearful volleys of musketry, 
and terrible fire of the Wll managed artillery. So close were the combat¬ 
ants that the bayonet was now used; and the enemy pushing forward their 
artillery, the dreadful carnage continued, until one sheet of flame seemed to 
spread between the artillery, whose deafening shocks shook the earth itself, 
seeming to be greater than the ever continued roar of that mighty volume 
of water scarce a mile away, and whose raising mist almost dampened the 
clothes of those who fought. The battle had commenced between five and 
six o’clock, and it was now nearly nine, when for a few minutes, the British 
and Americans, ceased firing; but both forces seemed to cease firing, only 
to re-commence again with redoubled fury and reinforcements of fresh 
troops. The British were reinforced with that part of General Riall’s forces 
that was on a retreat to Queenston, when turned back by orders from Gen¬ 
eral Drummond, and 450 militia who had just reached the field of action, in 
all about 1,200; while the Americans were reinforced with fresh troops 
under Major Ripley. 

“The battle was again opened by the battery on the brow of the hill, 
which poured its shot through the ranks of the Americans, while from 
right to left the British line, a continued blaze of musketry gave evidence 
that the reinforcements were now engaged. The moon, with its changing 
and at times clouded light, showed the ground thickly strewn with the 
dead and dying of both friend and foe, while the ground in front of the 
battery which the Americans had charged so many times with hopes of 
taking was piled with scores of dead, crushed by the death dealing solid 
shot. At this time Colonel Miller, with a force of Americans, made a last 
heroic attempt to capture the battery from the British. Making a gallant 
charge he forced the 89th, which had been placed just in the rear of the 
battery for a support, away from the guns and was attempting to turn the 


THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 37 


captured guns upon the Canadians, when the 89th and part of the Royal 
Scots made a charge, and at the point of the bayonet drove the Americans 
back, recapturing the battery and taking several tumbrils and pieces of 
artillery from the enemy. This was the last attempt of the Americans to 
break General Drummond’s line, and General Brown with his shattered 
forces withdrew from the field and retreated to Chippawa. General Drum¬ 
mond held his position throughout the fight and he remained in possession 
of the field at the close of the battle. The loss during this engagement was 
severe on both sides, the Americans losing upwards of 920 men and officers 
killed and wounded. Generals Brown and Scott were severely w'ounded 
and 300 Americans were made prisoners, while the Canadians lost in 
killed, wounded and prisoners, about 880 men and officers. General 
Drummond was wounded in the neck, but continued in command of his 
troops until General Brown retreated. General Riall was wounded in the 
shoulder during the engagement and while passing to the rear was taken 
prisoner, when the Americans turned the left of General Drummond’s line 
and had possession of the wood. The British had nineteen officers taken 
prisoners at the battle, among whom was Capt. W. H. Merritt of the Pro¬ 
vincial Light Dragoons, afterwards M. P. 

“On the 27th General Ripley, who now commanded the American 
troops, after destroying many of his heavy stores of war, withdrew to Fort 
Erie, which in various ways had been strengthened by the Americans. On 
the night of August the 12th, the British under Captain Dobbs, R. N., 
formed an expedition against two war vessels, the Ohio and Somers, which 
lay at anchor off Fort Erie. Troops were silently rowed to the side of the 
vessels and the Americans being completely surprised, after a short resist¬ 
ance surrendered, and on the morning of the 13th, General Drummond, 
who had thrown up earth works, opened his batteries on Fort Erie, which 
was damaged so much by the fire during the day that he determined to 
carry the fort if possible by assault, which was begun in three columns, 
two of which during the night took part of the American works on the 
outside of the main fort and held their position, expecting to be reinforced^ 
but owing to the vigorous fire of the Americans the re-inforcements could 


38 UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN 


not be made, and the British were forced to retire with great loss from the 
outer works of the Americans, having during this attempt to capture the 
fort lost 150 men killed and 300 wounded and nearly 200 made prisoners. 
Owing to the Americans having the shelter of their works, their loss was 
small. 

“General Drummond continued to keep the American force closely 
hemmed in at Fort Erie until the afternoon of September the 17th, when, 
by a w’ell planned sortie, the Americans captured the two batteries in the 
earth works thrown up by General Drummond ; but the British receiving a 
reinforcement, attacked the Americans, who were driven within the forl> 
losing nearly 600 men, in killed, wounded and missing during the short 
engagement. The British had 300 men taken prisoners in the trenches 
when the engagement first commenced and 300 in killed and wounded. 

Shortly after this the Americans in Fort Erie were re-inforced by 4,000 
men under General Izzard and compelled the Canadians and British to raise 
the siege, which they did on the 21st of September, and withdrew to the 
vicinity of Chippawa ; biit a short time passed before General Izzard with¬ 
drew his forces to the American shore, but not before he had fired the mag¬ 
azine of Fort Erie and otherwise destroyed everything which was likely to 
be made any use of by the Canadians.’’ 

I think this one of the hardest fought battles I have ever read of, 
and know of but few in history where our modern guns were used, where 
the percentage of killed and wounded has been so great on both sides, in 
proportion to the number engaged. 

I am proud to own some of the land over which these brave soldiers 
trod, and love to study over the battlefield where our grandfathers fought, 
but let us go further back ; many of the great, great grandfathers of those 
who fought on our side, were brothers of those who fought on the British 
side, so it was only a family strife, the j'ounger generation fighting for their 
independence. 

The Creator did ndt intend this world for such things, but gave 
wonderful means of intercourse, transportation and communication, by 
which all who live upon it can express their ideas, exercise their thoughts 


THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 


and work, so that which is the most deserving will come to the front. 
When this is general, then and only then, will all the beauties and possi_ 
bilities of nature be developed and war become a thing of the past, and the 
world become truly civilized. I believe World’s Fairs will do more to 
bring the manufacturing and mercantile elements of all nations of the 
earth closer together, than fifty years of time without them. I believe the 
acquaintance with each other, and the knowledge the great number of 
different nationalities will acquire of one another will do much to 
place all on an equal footing, the world over; and the manufacturer of 
the best article for the least money will do the business. When this is done, 
and when trade, commerce and mens’ ability in all legimate occupation 
are unrestrained by restrictive laws of men, their ruler being the grand 
unerring laws of nature, then we shall begin to see this planet of ours 
develop and assume the wonderful possibilities which nature intended. 
Each particular section will produce that which its people and climate are 
best adapted for; and then, will we receive the benefits of the best the 
world is capable of producing, at the least cost. The world is filling up so 
fast, and every being has the same right to live and breathe the same air 
as his neighbor, provided he does no one else a wrong. The question of 
occupation for so many is a grave and serious question, and that each man 
should have the world as a free market is unquestionably evidenced by the 
fact that we can communicate almost instantly with any part of the world. 
Yet the Creator has placed impassable barriers between this and other 
worlds showing where the line is drawn. The advantages of a large market 
are demonstrated by the wonderful prosperity of the United States since 
the war. Unrestricted trade through all the states of the Union brings 
them closer together, builds up the good manufactories and crowds out the 
bad. A large market justifies the most expensive machinery to produce the 
most insignificant article, thus reducing the cost to a minimum and justify¬ 
ing the manufacture of articles which would hardly be made at all without 
so extensive a market. 

Nature will have her way. Those who violate her physical laws pay 
the penalty in due time; and if not corrected soon pass from the face of 


UNRESTRICTED TRADE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 


the earth. Just so with a bad government and mistaken policy; it is only 
a question of time when it must rectify itself; for the world is bound to 
grow and prosper. Suppose England had kept her great American Colony, 
the United States, in subjection ; she could not, by any system of taxation 
of her subjects, have received one-half the money that she now gets from 
the American tourists each year, even by the aid of a standing army; and 
whoever visits that beautiful Island of England returns home with a feel¬ 
ing of satisfaction that they have always had value received. Hence, I 
claim that if Canada would allow her country to develop and cultivate un¬ 
restricted trade with the rest of this great North American continent, she 
would soon develop at as great a rate as we have done; her sons and 
daughters would remain at home, and we would meet as many Cana¬ 
dians in Europe and on the continent spending their money as we now do 
and England would derive a far greater benefit from her subjects than 
at present. 


39 

In the last report of Mr. Foster, Canadian Minister of Finances, in the 
new blue book issued by his department, he states that he has found it im¬ 
possible to frame a treaty with the United States upon the basis of a mutual 
free interchange of the natural products of both countries alone, but that 
manufactured goods must be included. I cannot see any reason why they 
should object to unrestricted trade with a country which manufactures 
27,000 different useful articles (according to a recent catalogue pub¬ 
lished of American manufactured goods) and the ground that manufactured 
goods cannot be included without discriminating against England is very 
poorly taken, for goods made abroad are easily identified, and the same 
tariff laws would be as much benefit to one country as to the other; and 
with a united front in manufacturing, mining and farming, very little pro¬ 
tection would be necessary to either country, and prosperity would be as 
general in Canada, as in the United States. 













Chapter V 


Proposed New York and Chicago Electric System 

OF Transportation. 


I T is certainly a great undertaking to build an Electric Railroad which 
shall be fast and elegant enough in its equipment to suit the average 
New York and Chicago traveller, and surpass steam at its present high 
standard ; but I believe such an undertaking is perfectly practical, for w'e 
have in electricity abundant power, quick enough in its movement to draw 
our trains loo miles an hour with nearly absolute safety, and transport 
freight at far less than the present rate and still leave a handsome profit. 

So confident am I of the practicability of such an undertaking that the 
ambition of my life is to take an active part in its consummation and I 
believe I have a system w'orked out which will prove my assertion. 

All that is lacking is capital and right of way. Hence, the first thing 
to be accomplished is to demonstrate by a working model, or otherwise, 
the requisite physical qualifications in motor, cars, truck and road bed. 
U ndoubtedly the natural right of way east of Buffalo for such a system is 
along the banks of the Erie Canal, on what is familiarly known as the 
“Tow Path,” where the same system of wiring w'hich supplies current to 
the cars can be utilized to propel the canal boats at about one-half the 
present cost; thus benefitting all parties interested and entirely dispensing 
with the tow path as a necessity to the canal. 

Having first convinced and made friends with the majority of the canal 
boatmen by equipping their boats with a better motive power and one with 


w'hich they can more than compete with steam railroads, no matter what 
rate they make, and having proven by actual demonstration to the satisfac¬ 
tion of the people of the Empire State that the Erie Canal tow path is no 
longer needed for a road to death, over which so many poor broken down 
horses and mules must travel their last journey until they fall beneath the 
lash, and that no injustice will be done to any one,—then I shall feel en¬ 
titled to a hearing before the Legislature of that great State with an appeal 
to allow this tow path to be used for the road bed of an Electric High 
Speed Railroad, over w'hich passengers can be carried with the greatest 
safety with a speed of at least loo miles per hour; and that the Erie Canal 
can be transferred into an ornament to the beautiful cities through the 
heart of which it wnnds its way. Some idea of how essential water canals 
and basins are to landscape beauty and the surroundings can be obtained 
by a few days and nights spent at the World's Fair. 

Therefore, I have confined myself, in working out my system, entirely 
to the limits of the Erie Canal tow path and the Erie Canal proper, which 
will allow ample room for a great double track, high speed, electric system 
without interfering or inconveniencing any one, at the same time increasing 
the carrying capacity of the canal. 

The conditions necessary to run a train wdth nearly absolute safety at a 
rate of speed of loo miles per hour, or more, must be as follows : 


41 




42 PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


I. A very solid road bed with a third rail to prevent all possibilities of 
derailment by spreading of the rails, by the rolling or swaying of the 
train. 

II. Friction must be reduced to a minimum, and adhesion increased 
to a maximum, which can be done by using a little heavier and higher rail in 
the center than on the outside ; for as the momentum of the train increases, 
the friction is decreased by the train assuming the position of the bicycle, 
when the center rail will caiTy the load. This rail can be given any desired 
foundation at a comparatively slight expense, as it rests on the center of the 
ties and not on the ends; and who in watching closely our present heavy 
trains has not seen the ends of the ties spring like a bow, loosening any 
ballast or foundation which might be underneath them. 

III. To avoid accidents we must first find the causes and remedy them. 
In railroading at present, the art which is considered so perfect, there are 
too many accidents, too much loss of life and destruction of property. 
While I do not set myself up as authority, I do believe that railroad men of 
the 20th Century will read of the accidents and look at statistics of the loss 
of life and destruction of property during the last years of the 19th Century 
with horror, and wonder how the thousands were killed ; and that they will 
undoubtedly attribute these accidents to such a reckless state of things. 
I think it will be found that fully 85 per cent, of the accidents on railroads 
during the past ten years are due to two things, viz: derailment and col¬ 
lision from front or behind. It is very seldom we hear of an accident due 
to the falling of a bridge, and where one does fall it is usually due to crimi¬ 
nal negligence on the part of some one; for with the present knowledge 
and ability to figure out strengths of structures and with the proper knowl¬ 
edge of what is required, there is no necessity for a bridge or culvert giving 
way. 

DERAILMENT: 

WHAT ARE ITS CAUSES. 

1st:—Spreading of the rails. 

2nd ;—Broken flange on wheel. 

3rd:—Car body getting down on one of its side bearings, which are 


sometimes placed too near the center of the car and actually raise the 
opposite side of the truck off the track. I have seen this proven by illus¬ 
tration and very able articles have been written on the subject by promi¬ 
nent railroad men. 

COLLISIONS: 

Collisions of course, are wholly due to those in charge of the train not 
knowing what is ahead or behind and their relative nearness one to the 
other. Now, I do not believe I am astray when I say that fully two-thirds 
of the causes of accidents above stated can be eliminated and rendered 
practically impossible in a high speed electric railroad the way I propose to 
construct it; and I will endeavor to fully illustrate in this pamphlet and by 
working model that such a road as I propose can be built with very 
little, if any, additional cost over the present manner. 

1st:—I put a third wheel in the center of the axle, which is constructed 
especially strong and of perfect metal, tested with a view to carrying the 
load and doing the work. The two outside wheels really might be termed 
emergency wheels, as they act simply to give rest to the train and keep it in its 
proper position when standing still or running at a low speed. The whole 
three wheels need not weigh more than two, the two outside wheels being 
much lighter and the additional weight added to the middle wheel, bring¬ 
ing the strength where it is required. 

2nd :—I construct my road bed the same as now, only instead of using 
two 100 pound rails I use two 50 pound rails for the outside, or for the 
emergency rails, and put the 100 or 125 pound working rail in the center; 
whence it will be seen that the cost is no more, as the price per ton is the 
same, and we use the 100 pound rail, which is about one inch higher, and 
the two outer rails of 50 pounds each, making the total weight the same. 
I reduce the friction to a minimum, as the instant the train gets under 
speed it rights itself on the single rail and we have the bicycle effect, which 
is a reduction of friction to the minimum and adhesion to a maximum. At 
the same time it will be seen that all four causes of accidents as above men¬ 
tioned will be practically removed. 

3rd :—The spreading of the rails will be impossible, as the load is car- 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION 


43 



SIDE VIEW OF PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION 










































































































44 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


ried by the single rail directly underneath the center of the train ; and even 
though one rail is actually removed the car will not leave the track. 

4th ;—The chances are 99 to i that in case of a broken wheel the train 
would not leave the track, as the safety wheels would come in action. 

5th :—Lifting one side of the truck from the track hy heavy swaying 
would be totally impossible. 

BROKEN AXLES. 

6th :—Axles when they break usually do so on account of the distance 
between the bearings; but by putting on the extra wheel the distance is 
reduced to such a degree that I doubt if they would ever break. 

7th :—I cannot go into the Train Dispatcher’s Office, to suggest im¬ 
provements in his way of dispatching trains or keeping their location or 
the various systems of signals, on which so much thought and money has 
been expended ; but I believe that in Electric Railroading under my pro¬ 
posed system the operator on a train can be kept in instantaneous commu¬ 
nication with every station and train on the division, and know from his 
indicator the exact distance of the nearest train in front or behind him. By 
a close circuit system an automatic alarm would be given to every train and 
station on the division if anything were out of order, and this signalling is 
just as certain the darkest night or most inclement weather, as in broad 
daylight of a clear day. Like the mariner, the director of the train will 
keep his eye on a delicate instrument on the table before him, which will 
indicate the exact location of the nearest train in front or rear and give an 
unfailing alarm in the event of an accident or disarrangements along the 
line. 

8th ;—When all this can be done accidents on the railroads will be 
practically a thing of the past, and travel become a luxury with nearly 
absolute safety. The next important feature is to control the trains in 
order to make sudden stops under high speed. This can be done by friction, 
and the brakes tightened by compressed air or electricity. But nature does 
not seemed satisfied with that; she has given an additional protection. It 
is very well known that by reversing the current in a motor it instantly 
becomes dynamo and retards with the same energy that it gave out power; 


this force can be utilized for sudden stopping of trains. 

Now that I have said considerable on the possibilities of avoiding acci¬ 
dents, etc., and tried to prove that electricity is nature’s motive power for 
transportation, I wish to say something on the construction of cars. 

Of course, in the 20th Century, the days of electricity, the steam loco¬ 
motives will be a thing of the past. The electric motor will have taken its 
place and the third wheel in the center of the trucks will give the requisite 
traction or adhesion with which to gain almost any speed,—but I am 
wandering from my subject—car construction. I have attended several 
Ma.ster Car Builders’ Conventions and stood in admiration of their careful 
deliberation and the wise course pursued to find out and know just what is 
the best in construction of their cars, and what can be depended upon wdth 
unfailing certainty under various conditions ; but in all their deliberations 
they have adhered to the old line of construction. I think they are wrong 
in their tendency to build everything too heavy and of too many parts; 
and so put too much weight in every part. I believe cars of the same 
capacity and luxury could be constructed and not weigh more than one- 
third as much as now. I recently read the description in a Railroad Journal 
of a very luxurious car just built which carries 33 passengers and weighs 
over 35 tons, or over one ton of material to be hauled to each passenger, 
just as if this was some achievement and something to be proud of, to build 
a car of such enormous weight. 

I believe the street car builders are nearer to the right track ; their aim 
seems to be high capacity and little weight, and they are actually approach¬ 
ing elegance in their construction. In this connection I wish to allude to 
the subject of springs, for when we get electric railroads I do not believe 
people will ride on iron, but on air or pneumatic springs, by which no noise 
or jar will be perceptible. 

ATMOSPHERIC RESISTANCE. 

The best authorities say from experience they find the atmospheric 
resistance to a train of one or two cars is as high as 35 or 40pounds per ton, 
while in long vestibuled trains it is reduced as low as 10 or 12 pounds per 
ton ; hence, I believe in trains of long cars with stiff rails, vestibuled and 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


45 



END VIEW OF PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 









































































































































46 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


with the bottom of the car as free from obstacles as possible and closing the 
opening between trucks and car body and sharpening the front, that the 
air resistance would be reduced very low. 

For conveying the current to the cars, a cheaper and better system of 
taking power from a central station or stations located at a proper distance 
along the line, could not be devised than the familiar trolley wire, as has 
been proven by its practicability and success. One great advantage of 
creating the pow'er at a central station is that the engine, if water power is 
not available, can be well protected from the weather, and is not subject to 
the wear and tear incident to exposure; again, one large engine with a 
mechanical stoker, will do the work of 50 locomotives out on the line, also 
saving the expenses of 48 firemen and engineers. 

A storage battery is provided on each train for emergency in case the 
trolley should fail, or power required for air brakes. A thin layer of rubber 
just above the boxes of the wheel, relieves all jar of the motor and the 
springs under the idler wheels hold them in constant contact under any 
pressure desired; this pressure should be equal to the weight of the car on 
the track. 

In breaking the train by reversing the current which forces the electri¬ 
cal energy back on the main line, we get the benefit of the momentum in 
restored power. It will certainly be ideal railroading when the General 
Manager can talk by telegraph with the director or operator on every train 
while running at a rate of speed not less than 100 miles an hour, and in 
case of emergency press a button at his desk and stop every train on the 
division. With such power the chances of accidents will be reduced to 
minimum and all the arteries of the great railroad systems brought to one 
competent head who shall not only mentally but physically have absolute 
control; and such an arrangement assures success. 

In generating power at a central station with stationary engines (where 
steam is required) the use of condensing engines effects a great saving in 
power over the best locomotive. As is well known the limitation of speed 
of the present steam locomotive is due to the heavy reciprocating parts, 
which are not only in constant danger of being broken by such a rapid 


reciprocating motion but which under high speed are bound to give the 
engine a severe oscillating movement, which is a source of great danger 
from derailment and is very hard on the track. 

In my center wheel which carries the load, great care is taken to have 
it very secure, being built of two discs bolted together with a heavy steel 
rim and paper placed between,—or what is familiarly known as the paper 
wheel. There is absolutely no experiment in the success of this proposed 
High Speed Electric R. R., since the art is so well understood it is only a 
matter of mathematical calculation as to the horse power required to drive 
a train the desired speed, and the width of the face of the friction idler, 
(or cog wheel) to communicate the power from the motor to the track 
wheels. The weight of the average sleeping car is from 70,000 to 80,000 
pounds; it has from 12 to 14 sections, or total accommodations for from 24 to 
30 people, equal to 2,500 to 3,000 pounds dead weight to each passenger 
accommodated. The idea of hauling around nearly 23 times the weight of 
each passenger in wood and iron, seems ridiculous. I figure a metal car 
with air springs, as planned by me, would not weigh over 12,000 to 15,000 
pounds, or less than one-fifth the weight of the present sleeper, yet would 
have the same carrying capacity. 

As regards a connection between the motor and the track wheels under 
the car we are limited to three ways. 

First;—The reciprocating movement which is entirely out of the ques¬ 
tion when high speed is required. 

Second;—Gear wheels are perfectly practical, but on account of the 
slipping of the teeth from each other, under a heavy load the friction is 
very large, the wear enormous and the noise objectionable. 

Third ;—Hence, in my judgment, friction connection is the ideal means 
of connection in high speed cars. They can be built of wood, or paper 
pressed between discs, are very light, and practically noiseless, and the 
amount of power which they would communicate is known to an absolute 
certainty. For illustration ; 

Suppose we use a 600 horse power motor with a speed of 500 revolutions 
per minute, the diameter of wheel on axle being 2 feet, track wheels 2)4 


□ D 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 47 




SIDE SECTION AND GROUND PLAN OF PROPOSED TRAIN. 


























PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO ELECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


48 

feet, motor wheel 4 feet. We have the following problem : 

500x2 = 1000 speed of track wheels, which are 7^ feet in circum¬ 
ference; this would give U3 a speed of 7,500 feet per minute or about 100 
miles per hour. There are now motors running in this World’s Fair Elec¬ 
trical Building which I would guarantee when mounted on one of my pro¬ 
posed trucks, geared as above, would easily make 100 miles per hour, with 
two or three cars on a three rail track. 

Now it is an established fact that 300 pounds to one inch face is the 
maximum powder that can be transmitted by paper friction wheels, which 
are found to be the best; therefore, the power which can be con¬ 
veyed by a 2 foot 6 inch face friction wheel, turning 1,000 revolutions per 
minute is as follows : 6x300 pounds equals i ,800 pounds; multiplied by 

6,000 feet per minute is equal to 10,800,000 feet; divided by 33,000 leaves 
about 330 horse power for one place of contact; and as we have 4 places in 
our construction, we would have 1,320 horse power which could be commu¬ 
nicated by two 6-inch face idlers, 2 feet in diameter. 

Say as a factor of safety, we take 600 horse power ; this leaves 720 horse 
power, w’hich I calculate is more than sufficient to drive a train of three or 
four vestibule cars by electricity 100 miles an hour on my system of tracks. 
The friction of the wheels against each other can be always made equal to 
the friction of the truck wheels to the track, and the width of the friction 
idlers can be increased in width until the ability to communicate the desired 
power is attained. For the true solution of any machine is to get just 
enough parts and metal to do the work and stand the strain, using great 
judgment in distributing it to the best advantage without using any addi¬ 
tional or unnecessary weight. It will also be observed that while my motor 
rests entirely on the truck, it is accessible at all times from inside the car 
when the train is in motion or st.anding still. It is also thoroughly pro¬ 
tected from dust or dirt and the connection between it and the running 
gear of the car is always constant and adhesion equal. At the same time 
the motor rests on the springs, to prevent injury to the armature by any 
slight unevenness of the track ; and my construction is such that the 
motor, of the required size to drive a car the requisite speed, can be easily 
put in place. 


If necessary, I can put a 2,000 horse power motor in as easily as a 50 
horse power; but I have figured it out and calculated, that by reducing 
friction with the load coming on the center rail, made very heavy and stiff, 
and located in the center of the ties and road bed, and by reducing the 
weight of the car bodies, that a 500 horse power motor will drive a train of 
from 3 to 5 of my proposed vestibule cars at least 100 miles per hour. In 
making up the design for the motor, I selected one of great power and slow 
speed armature, which experience is teaching electricians to be the best, 
and calculated for great and constant power. I concluded the diameter of 
the armature which I would use should be from 3 to 4 feet, and revolve 500 
to 600 revolutions per minute. This will give me from 1,000 to 1,200 
revolutions of my truck wheels, which are from 30 to 36 inches in diameter, 
giving a speed of 120 miles per hour, provided it is run to its full capacity; 
and this speed can be increased indefinitely by changing the size of wheels 
on shaft of armature. 

The great locomotive, 903, w'hich pulls the Empire State Express, 
weighs 100 tons (200,000 lbs.) Her reciprocating parts would in one trip, 
pound into fragments the largest fortification in the country, if the force of 
their forward and backward motion could be brought to bear upon it. 
What a strain all this ponderous machinery must be on the road bed, bridge 
and structure ! I estimate that my whole train of four cars, motor and all, 
would not weigh as much as this one locomotive. 

A steam locomotive is a combination of complicated parts at the very 
best, every one of which is subjected to wear and tear of the most severe 
kind, while an electric motor, is simplicity itself, and nothing wears out 
except its bearings and these are easily renewed. Another tremendous 
saving in electric propulsion over steam is made through dispensing with 
the boilers. In a casual conversation not long ago with a prominent rail¬ 
road official, he remarked that their company had as many as 100 locomo¬ 
tives disabled at one time, on account of the flues being eaten out during 
dry weather because of the use of low water, which is saturated with for¬ 
eign substances. 

It has been demonstrated beyond a question of doubt, that if it costs 


PROPOSED NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 


the same to propel cars by electricity, at the same rate of speed, as by steam, 
as you increase the rate of speed, the cost of electricity is much less in pro¬ 
portion to that of steam, which increases in vast difference as the rate of 
speed is increased, in favor of electricity. 

A small railroad with unlimited freight and passenger resources is far 
better than a large railroad with limited freight and passenger resources. 

I do not expect or hope to at once commence construction on this pro¬ 
posed great New York & Chicago electric system of transportation, but 
little by little I expect to work for its consummation. I shall first get my 
power house and bridge built at Buffalo and see from actual experience the 
electric energy produced at that point and show clearly the enormous sav¬ 
ing of electricity over steam. But one thing is certain, that the Erie Canal 
boatmen must have a better power for their boats, and that soon, as they 
are rapidly losing ground, and unless some succor comes soon, will be 
beyond resurrection. I sincerely hope that all, and especially those who 
live along the line of the beautiful Mohawk Valley, will render me all the 
assistance in their power, and become more appreciative of what can be 
done with the Erie Canal as a natural electric highway from the lakes to 
the sea ; through which in coming years, will be transferred the bulk of the 
immense products of the west to feed and sustain the millions in the east 
and European countries. 

It has been demonstrated that freight can be carried by boat at much 
less cost than by railroad, on account of high capacity and comparatively 
slight consumption of power. 

Everything in the electrical line seems to be now just ready for the 
introduction of high speed railroad travel. The motors, dynamos, wiring, 
switches, rheostats, etc., seem to be all about perfected. 


LECTRIC SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION. 


49 


I wish all the people in Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and other 
cities along the line of the Erie Canal, could have seen Jackson Park, the 
site of the World’s Fair, as I saw it, before the lagoons and canals were 
spanned by graceful bridges and snrrounded by beautiful buildings as they 
are now; and I believe the Erie Canal, which passes through the heart of 
these beautiful cities, the banks of which are now lined with barns, stables, 
old junk shops, etc., which in summer time emit nauseating smells, can be 
turned into a thing of beauty, and become an attraction of the cities; beau¬ 
tifully lighted at night, with boats and cars driven by electricity, and the 
banks lined with handsome hotels and warehouses. I have seen so many 
of these wonderful transformations in my own city, in 15 or 20 years, that 
I can fully appreciate the possibilities of others. A few years ago the site 
of the Board of Trade and the vicinity in which my office is at present, I 
always avoided on account of the disagreeable surroundings; now it is one 
the most attractive localities in the city. I sincerely hope the municipali¬ 
ties of these beautiful cities, will pass laws at once establishing building 
lines and the character of buildings that are to be erected along the line of 
the Erie Canal within their city limits; thus as these old stables and ware¬ 
houses tumble down and are removed, in their places would soon spring up 
beautiful hotels and warehouses of modem architecture. 

This system of high speed electric railway and canal transportation has 
been the source of many pleasant hours of study for me. I first took it up 
something over four years ago, but other business prevented my giving it 
any attention. But I am an enthusiast on the subject and its possibilities, 
and would like to receive the addresses of those who believe likewise, and 
would like an opportunity to become interested or assist in its consummation, 
and especially those living in cities or towns along the Erie Canal who 
could aid financially, or in securing the right of way, also this side of Buffalo, 
as land would double and quadruple in value wherever such a road was 
located. 

All communications on this subject should be addressed to Alonzo 
Mather, 169 Adams St., Chicago, Ill. 


IMMEDIATE RELIEF FOR ERIE CANAL BOATMEN 


















































Chapter VI 


Immediate Relief and Better Power Necessary for the 

Erie Canal Boatmen. 


A bout 1867 there was a big effort made to introduce steam on the E)rie 
Canal, and the New York Legislature offered a reward of f 100,000; 
this brought out many devices but none of them were taken favorably to by 
the canal boatmen, as they required an experienced engineer, and large 
supply of coal, and while some very good, compact engines were devised 
very few seemed to be adapted to the canal boats, as already constructed, 
and hence, were not universally adopted. 

At that time I took a great interest in this subject, and among the most 
pleasant experiences of my life have been visits at different times in these 
little 14X 16 ft. homes on these Erie Canal boats. Here you will find com" 
fort, and economy of room that is truly remarkable. Kitchen, dining-room, 
bedroom, parlor, closet, bath-room, and wife and family of children, all 
living happily within the space of one ordinary sized room; in some of 
them the neatness is quite remarkable, and lots of happiness when business 
is i/Qod, but when it is bad, as it has been for the last two years, the outside 
world knows little of the mental agony, which hangs over some of these 
sturdy boatmen who run behind, do what they will, and for a few hundred 
dollars indebtedness are liable to lose their boat and home they love so well. 
And mind you, most of these men are honest Americans, whose grandfathers 
lived here in the time of DeWitt Clinton, and labored to subdue what was 


then the wild west—New York State. For this reason,my sympathies are 
greatly increased, and the law will not protect them against the railroad 
corporations with all the odds in the latters’ favor. We censure some of 
these men, for driving broken down, abandoned horses and mules when 
they have no money to buy others. How often I think of force of circum¬ 
stances actually compelling men to do that which is in direct violation of 
their nature,—consequently, I always think twice before judging too harshly 
of any wrong act. 

In my investigations of business on the Erie Canal, I talked to one 
of the best equipped captains on the whole line. He does business to the 
best possible advantage as known at present, viz: he has two boats and six 
horses. Experience had proven that three horses will tow two boats tied 
together, (what is known as a double header), as easily as two horses will 
haul one boat, and thus two drivers and two horses are saved, by running 
their boats in this manner: For illustration:—the captain’s family consists 
of his wife and two daughters and one grown son, all of whom contribute 
to his existence. The wife and daughter attend to the making of the 
clothing and cooking, the son steers the rear boat and the father the front 
boat, in addition to which they have to hire two drivers, usually by the 
trip. This captain told me, equipped as well as he was for business, and 


51 




52 


. . . IMMEDIATE RELIEF FOR 

with comparatively no loss of time during the season, he actually believed 
that when the wages of the two hired men had been paid, and towing 
charges at Buffalo and New York deducted, there would not be a dollar left. 

I have obtained some authentic figures of the relative cost of propelling 
boats on the Erie Canal by steam, and horse power, which may be found 
interesting. 

A steam canal boat, equipped with a 6o horse power engine, requires 
lo days from Buffalo to New York, and they usually estimate 30 days for 


the round trip, which costs as follows ; 

40 tons of coal at $4.00 per ton,.$160.00 

I Licensed Engineer, for 30 days. 45.00 

I Assistant “ “ 25.00 

I Licensed Pilot,. 50.00 

I Assistant “ 35-00 

4 Men’s board at 45 cents per day,. 54.00 

Sundries, .. 31.00 


Total for trip, $400.00 


Such a steam canal boat will propel a fleet of three boats, one in front 
and two behind, making an average cost for each boat $100 for the round trip. 
Of course the interest and depreciation, which are not included in this 
estimate, make quite an item, as steam propellers of this class are quite 
expensive. 

Propelled by horse power—the old fashioned way—the average time 
required is 13 days one way, and when unusually quick trips are made, 30 
days for the round trip, towed by horse from Buffalo to New York. Ex¬ 
penses are as follows, four horses being necessary : 


I Steersman for a month.$30.00 

I Asst. “ “ .■ . . 20.00 

I Driver “ 25.00 

I Asst. Driver “ 25.00 

2,400 lbs. of hay at 60 cents,.14.40 

20 bushels of oats at 45 cents,. 9.00 


ERIE CANAL BOATMEN . . . 


1200 lbs. of feed at $1.00, ...... . . 12.00 

4 Men’s Board at 45 cents per day,.54.00 

River towing, Troy to Albany,. 4.00 

River towing, Albany to New York, .'.25.00 

From New York, back up the river empty, .... 15.00 

Buffalo Harbor charges,. 4.00 


Total cost, $237.40 


by horse power for the round trip as against $100 by steam power and 
$151.05 in double headers. These figures include nothing for the expenses 
of the owner or his family. 

Where double headers are used two extra horses are necessary, making 
six horses for tw'o boats. 

This of course, will make the following additional cost; 


1,200 lbs. of hay.$ 7.20 

10 bu. of oats at 45 cts.,.. . 4.50 

600 lbs. feed at $1.00. 6.00 

River towing for extra boat,.25.00 

River towing back empty.15.00 

Towing Troy to Albany,. 4.00 

Buffalo Harbor charges,. 3.00 


Total of $64.70 

For the extra boat equals about. $302.10 

For two boats round trip, or $151.05 per boat, .... 302.10 


The revenue for the round trip would be approximately as follows: 

Grain at 3 cts. a bushel, less elevator charges Yz cts. a bushel, would 
be equal to 2>^ cts., and 8,000 bushels—a very large average to a boat— 
would make the gross receipt $200 for one trip; or a loss of some $37 to 
those who run their boats the old-fashioned way, and a small margin for 
those who can afford to own two boats and run them as double headers; 
and very little margin for steam fieets when depreciation of machinery 
and incidental expenses not estimated in above are included. 





























. . IMMEDIATE RELIEF FO 


The year 1892 will long be remembered as the worst year for the 6,000 
or 7,000 Erie Canal boatmen and their families and employes ever known. 
Yet there were usually large crops all through the west. How do we 
account for this, who and what is to blame ? The causes are easily located. 
It is the universal low rate on grain the canal boatmen stand by. Who 
makes the rate of from 4^ to 5 cents per hundred pounds from Buffalo to 
New York, which I know was made last year ? Just think of it, this is an 
average of about $1.00 per ton, when the rate of coal is over twice that for 
half the distance, while the market value of one ton of grain is nearly 20 
times that of coal. Investigate and find out who made these rates on grain 
for 1892, and we will find it was a road in close proximity to the Erie Canal. 
Yet they are allowed to charge more for 100 pounds of merchandise, than 
for a ton of grain and the law protects them in it. They can charge 2 cts. 
a mile for passengers,—almost as much for 3 passengers as for a whole car 
load of grain. 

Why not amend the inter-state law, so that in making reductions on 
one commodity a proportionate reduction must be made on all, not allow¬ 
ing right to charge excessive profit on one article to be used as a weapon to 
destroy competitors who are unable to compete for a certain class of 
business. 

It certainly looks as if some of the railroads running through the state 
of New York from the east to the west, believe the Erie Canal to be on its 
last legs, and by taking away their grain trade for a few seasons so wind it 
up; and thus that great free highway, so long a thorn in their sides would 
be forever silenced. But the Creator, the Great Equalizer of all things, at 
such a time, when men and corporations begin to feel supreme, makes His 
power felt and the strong arm is broken down by some new discovery, and 
the people live and remain supreme. 

There is no dcubt in my mind but that the hardships of these boatmen 
in the year 1892, will be their salvation, for it will prove to them the neces¬ 
sity of better power for the propulsion of their boats from Buffalo to the 
sea, either by electricity or otherwise. There has been some talk of 
widening and deepening the Erie Canal sufficient to take lake and ocean 


ERIE CANAL BOATMEN . . 


53 


steamers. I think those familiar with it, will pronounce it entirely im¬ 
practicable, and an undertaking, to which the Panama Canal could not be 
compared in expense or obstacles. The idea of rebuilding the numerous 
aqueducts on the Erie Canal of sufficient size to take lake steamers of 
constantly increasing dimensions, and cutting channels of sufficient size 
and depth through the mountains of limestone rock in the vicinity of Little 
Falls and other places along the line, and buying additional right of way 
through the hearts of the important cities of Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, 
Buffalo, is out of the question. Why, I believe it would cost more than 
the national debt, to cut a ship canal on the line of the Erie Canal site; 
besides, I doubt if the supply of water could be had to keep it full, and 
again, how is this going to help the 6,000 or 7,000 canal boatmen who 
have their boats already built, representing a cost of over |i5,000,000, 
divided up between and representing the all of some 6,000 or 7,000 different 
families. These aie the people we want to help and not the big corpor¬ 
ations who are capable of building or buying modern ocean steamers. No, 
the Erie Canal is just right as it is. It is just the right width, the right 
grade, and runs in just the right place, has just the right kind of terminals, 
and the boats which are now on it are just the right size, and could not be 
better adapted than they now are for propulsion by electricity; and the 
tow path is all below grade crossings, particularly rendering it suitable for 
high speed electric road as proposed by me; and who could object to the 
cars as there would be no smoke, very little noise, always light and cheer¬ 
ful, giving renewed animation and attractiveness to the localities where 
they run. 

The following article I clipped from a Buffalo paper some few months 
ago; 

THE DECADENCE OF THE ERIE CANAL. 

“ For two generations the Erie Canal has been the most powerful factor 
in the transportation system of this country, but its long reign appears to 
be nearing an end. Never has the canal done so badly as this season. Not 
only is its traffic light, but the rates are unprecedently low. Up to August 
I, the canal has secured onlv one-quarter of the late grain destined for New 


. . . IMMEDIATE RELIEF FOR ERIE CANAL BOATMEN . . . 


54 

York, while two years ago it secured almost one-half. 

‘ ‘ The canal does not compete for flour shipments at all. The number 
boats that cleared at Buffalo was 2070, as against 3042 two years ago. Al¬ 
though the canal boatmen are willing to carry grain 400 miles for 2}( cents 
a bushel, they find the railroad will do the same for very little more, and 
in one-fifth the time. The canal rate amounts to only 75 cents a ton, or 
less than two mills a ton a mile, and the boatmen are tying up their craft 
declaring they cannot pay expenses. 

“It is evident that the canal has been outstripped at last. In the las 
twenty years nothing has been done to improve it, although the lot of the 
boatmen has been made easier by the removal of all tolls and charges. But 
the railroads have made great progress in that time. In 1870 the average 
freight car held twelve tons, now it holds thirty. Stone bridges have re¬ 
placed wooden ones, heavy steel rails have supplanted light iron ones, and 
one locomotive hauls a train that no yardmaster of old would have dreamed 
of dispatching with less than three engines. In every department of rail¬ 
road transportation progress has been made, but canal engineering has 
remained stationary. 

“ Yet the railroads have not driven out water competition. The tonnage 
on the Great Lakes is increasing every year, and earns a profit for its 
owners despite intense competition by railroads in Canada and the United 
States. It is only a question of improvements. If the city of New York, 
which owes her commercial supremacy to the Erie Canal, thinks it would 
pay her to rebuild the waterway, it can, no doubt, offer successful opposi¬ 


tion to the railroads. Even now, with horse power and with so many 
inconveniences that ten days are required for the trip from Buffalo to New 
York, the canal can carry grain for two mills a ton a mile, with a wider, 
deeper, stone-lined canal, so that steam power could be used, it could carry 
grain for even less. It is hard to believe that the railroads will be able to 
do business as low as this for thirty years to come. The average cost of 
handling all freight on the New York Central Railroad last year was 5.7 
mills per ton per mile. On the Pennsylvania Road it was something under 
4 mills. Grain is a cheap commodity to handle, and the cost was consid¬ 
erable below the average, but still it hardly yields a profit at 2 mills. 

“ The New York railroads are undoubtedly making a desperate fight 
against the old canal. As soon as navigation opened freight rates dropped 
to the lowest basis on record, and it is almost as cheap to ship by land as 
by water. Another season like this and the question will surely be raised 
whether it is worth while to keep open the antiquated waterway any longer, 
and if it should be decided in the negative, who can doubt that the railroad 
rates will go back to a remunerative basis once more ? 

“ The difference in the price of transportation by rail or canfl will be 
best illustrated by the statement that if during one single year all the 
freight carried on canal boats in this country had to be carried by rail 
instead, the transportation cost by means of the latter would require an 
outlay of $150,000,000 in excessof what it costs to transport the same amount 
of freight on canal boats.” 





Chapter VII. 

Horse Power on Boats. 


I F canal boatmen insist on using Horse Power, I sincerely hope they will 
use it to the best advantage, as I believe, from close calculation, that 
the loss through friction by a tow line pulled through the water and 
along over the bank is far greater than the slip of a screw would 
be. Therefore I have designed and applied for a patent on a device, herein 
shown, by which I believe the same horses can be used to a much better 
advantage than on the tow-path, where they are constantly exposed to the 
weather and slipping around in the mud. I have not yet made any experi¬ 
ment with one of these proposed tread-mills, but by the best authorities 
among manufacturers in that line it is believed they will develop far more 
power than the same horses could pulling a dead load ; as the weight of 
the horses is added and increases the power. I quote here the opinion of 
four manufacturers of these tread-mills, as follows ; 

Number one says: “ It is generally conceded that one horse in the 
tread-mill as equal to two horses pulling on a level.” 

Number two claims that “ With heavy horses and proper elevation of 
the machine as much work can be done with two horses in tread as can be 
done w'ith four horses on a level.” 

Manufacturer number three writes : “ There is no question but that 

two heavy horses with suitable elevation of the tread power and proper 
speed of the machine will do more work in a day, if the horses pull in a 
tread power, than four horses can do on a level.” 


Number four, who is a very large and reliable manufacturer of tread¬ 
mills, states as follows : ” It is a settled question that more power can be 

developed from two horses in a tread on a railway power than in any way 
they can be hitched up. In a tread power you can work them in two dif¬ 
ferent ways; either set the power at quite a steep incline and get the ben¬ 
efit of the weight only, or set it at a less incline and fasten the trace to the 
power and let them draw; hence you derive the benefit of the pull and 
weight also of the horses. These powers are used largely for the thresh¬ 
ing of grain, and three-horse power will thresh about as much per day as a 
six-horse power engine. There is no way that more power can be got from 
horses than by putting them in tread-power, and the greatest benefit is 
derived where fast-running machines are to be driven.” 

Now, from the best information obtainable and which is very reason¬ 
able, the increased weight of a horse on the tread enables two horses to do 
the work of four. We will say, however, that it is three, which will give 
us an increase in power of 33 per cent. Now, the slip of a screw and fric¬ 
tion would not begin to be as much as this, hence, although I have not 
yet proved it, I believe a boatman would get much better results out of 
three horses in tread-power than he would out of four on tow-path, thus 
rendering the tow-path an entirely useless expense to the canal. But this 
would be the smallest item of saving. The salary of two drivers, $50.00 
per month or $300.00 for the season, would be entirely dispensed with; as 


55 




56 


HORSE POWER ON BOATS 



SIDE ELEVATION, PARTLY IN SECTION, OF HORSE POWER ON BOATS. 




























































































































• • • 


HORSE POWER ON BOATS 


‘>1 


















































































































































































































































































































































58 


. . HORSE POWER ON BOATS . . 


the steersman could easily attend to the horses and steer the boat at the 
same time ; then the item of towing charges at the harbor at both ends and 
river towing charges would make simply an enormous saving. To make 
the calculation of this saving in dollars and cents by working the horses on 
the boats of the Erie canal in this manner the amount per month would 
be as follows : 

Two drivers, I25.00 per month each. $50.00 

The board for two drivers, 45 cents per day (which is estimated 

actual cost), for thirty days. 27.00 

River towing charges. 25.00 

Towing from Troy to Albany. 4.00 

River towing, back empty . 12.00 


Towing empty from Troy to Albany. 3.00 

Towing, Buffalo Harbor. 4.00 

Making a total saving per trip of.$125.00 


This is providing that these boats could be propelled down the river 
unattended, and I believe it could be done ; but even though they employed 
steam tugs, as now, the saving would be $77.00 per month, wages and 
board of two, which would amount on say 5,000 boats to the large sum of 
$385,000 per month, or $3,080,000 per season, and make the boatmen en¬ 
tirely independent of the towing companies, so far as moving their boats 
about the harbor is concerned. 






























Chapter Vlll 


\ 

Petroleum or Gasoline Engines and Their Adaptability to the 

Propulsion of Canal Boats. 


H aving shown in a previous chapter that the cost of propelling canal 
boats the round trip from Buffalo to New York in the primitive way 
with two horses w'ould be about $237.50 for the round trip and by double- 
headers (as it is termed) $151.05, and in fleets by steam about $roo.oo a trip ; 
not including the interest and depreciation on machinery and capital invested 
which necessarily is quite large, especially in a steam tow boat of the size 
figured above. From my investigation of the cost of running petroleum and 
gasoline engines, I am satisfied that they are particularly adapted for the 
propulsion of canal boats, from the fact that they require very little if any 
attention when once started, and they can be run for a cent an hour or less, 
per horse power. They require no licensed engineer or fireman, and the cap¬ 
tain of the boat can not only run the engine, but steer and manage the boat 
at the same time. For these reasons, although I have no proven facts to go 
by, I believe the round trip can be made at less than any other way except¬ 
ing electricity, and nothing can compete with that in economy when once 
introduced ; but until that time comes it might be well to place before these 
unfortunate boatmen all the information available concerning the various 
powers suited to run their boats. 

It has been found up to the present time that the best type of petroleum 


and gasoline engines only realizes about sixteen per cent, of the units of 
heat, the balance being lost in accordance with the following table. 

Heat lost through the cylinder walls, 51 per cent. 

Heat or pressure carried away through exhaust, 31 per cent. 

Heat lost by radiation, 2 per cent. 

To save this or even part of- it, would so materially lessen the expense 
of running by petroleum or gasoline, that I have crowded in with my other 
work, the time to design an engine of this character, which shall compound 
the exhaust by expanding it into three series of cylinders in succession, 
and also provide a means in the back head of the explosion cylinder by 
which I can economize in the loss of heat by radiation. In order to actually 
demonstrate what would be the cost of propelling a canal boat from Buffalo 
to New York, at large expense, I have constructed a yacht about the size 
of an Erie Canal boat in which I intend placing an engine as above de¬ 
scribed, through the medium of which I shall be able to prove to a dollar, 
just what it will cost to propel these boats by petroleum or gasoline from 
Buffalo to New York and return. With this information, I believe I shall 
be able to render much assistance to the canal boatmen, in placing before 
them the most economical power by which they can compete with steam 


59 




6o 


PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINES FOR PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS 



SIDE ELEVATION, PARTLY IN SECTION, OF PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINE AS APPLIED TO BOATS, 










































































































PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINES FOR PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS, 


6i 



CROSS AND SIDE SECTION OF PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINE AS APPLIED TO CANAL BOATS. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































62 


PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINES FOR PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS 



PLAN AND SIDE ELEVATION OF COMPOUND PETROLEUM OR GASOLINE ENGINE 


































































































































































































































































































































































PLAN AND SIDE SECTION OF COMPOUND PETROLEUM OR GASOLENE ENGINE 
































































































































































































































































































































64 


PETROLEUM OR GASOLI NE ENGINES 

until electricity is available; and I have no hesitancy in saying that the 
prime motive of my labor in this direction, is to render the tow-path entirely 
unnecessary to the Erie Canal boatmen, with the feeling that when I have 


FOR PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS. 

done this there will be no source for objections to the use of this tow-path 
for the high speed electric road, which I hope to see completed along its 
banks before the close of the present century. 



Chapter IX. 

Electric Propulsion of Canal Boats and Dangers of Too 

Rapid Consumption of Coal. 


E lectricity is unquestionably the coming power for the propulsion 
of canal boats as well as for cars, for the simple reason it is so partic¬ 
ularly well adapted to do this work, and can be applied with comparatively 
slight expense. 

On the following pages I illustrate what I consider would be a very 
simple and practical means of its application ; the double trolley wires 
make a perfect circuit and being flat and tied together vidth cross pieces 
of insulated material, are quite stiff, sufficiently so, I think, to guide 
the boat when one trolley is located at the bow and one at the stern, 
working vertically in a socket and kept in contact by means of a spring. 
On close examination the illustrations can be readily understood. In fact, 
I think the substitution of electricity will be found an actual necessity 
within the next few years, as the danger of too rapid consumption of coal 
already stares us in the face. 

I often have wondered if the stock and bond-holders, and others inter¬ 
ested in the wonderful net-work of railroads of which they are so proud, 
ever stop for one instant and reflect and ask themselves the question, 
“What would our stock and bonds be worth without coal to fire our 
engines?’’ You suggest it, and they laugh and say there is no end to it. 


but I say there is a limit. It is hardly fifty years since coal began to be 
used in any quantities in this countiy*,—yet many mines are already worked 
out. You might say it is not thirty yea s since petroleum, and ten since 
natural gas was first used for lighting, fuel,etc.; but it is already a struggle and 
only by constant boring can enough be found to supply the present demand. 
Again, look how the demand is increasing ; and how long is thirty or fifty 
years on the dial of time ? It is but a second, with one stroke of the 
pendulum it is gone ; with three or four strokes all the above sources of en- 
ergy will have been consumed and nature is forming them no more. Must 
all our locomotives, manufactories, electric plants and the thousand 
and one things for which steam power is available have to become 
idle, and leave an impoverished and worn out world, before its beau¬ 
ties have commenced to be developed ? How deplorable ! No, it is 
the duty of man to at once commence to look around him and bring into 
immediate use that wonderful energy which never is consumed, of which 
the world is full; which can be produced by the rise and fall of the tides, 
and gravitation to the earth,—electricity—that wonderful element which 
changes its form only, and is never lost. As we approach the close of the 
century would it not be well to take account of stock of the world’s resour- 




66 


ELECTRIC PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS 



SIDE ELEVATION, PARTLY IN SECTION, SHOWING MANNER OF APPLYING ELECTRIC PROPULSION TO CANAL BOATS. 






































































































































































ELECTRIC PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS... 


\ 



CROSS AND SIDE SECTION SHOWING MANNER OF APPLYING ELECTRIC MOTORS TO CANAL BOATS. 

I 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































68 


ELECTRIC PROPULSION OF CANAL BOATS... 


ces in coal, which, when gone, are gone forever; and would it not be well to 
husband this stock of fuel on hand a little until we can produce electricity 
in larger quantities from other sources. I clip from an Engineering Journal 
the following article ; ^ 

“ Face for a moment the awful possibility of a deprivation of artificial 
power. What would become of the human race were it thrown upon its 
unaided exertions for all that steam is supplying to-day ? And yet unless 
the wisdom of future generations shall solve the problem in some manner 
beyond our present surmise, this possibility appears to be not remote. 
According to our latest estimates based upon the past growth and probable 
rate of increase of coal consumption, the amount of coal now available will 
be exhausted by about the year 2,000, a little over a century away, yet we 
continue to make lavish inroads into this supply, content to make the most 
of the present, and without considering where w’e shall turn to when this 
rich inheritance of the centuries shall have been squandered. Those who 
dismiss the subject with the thought that they wdll experience no 
personal inconvenience from so distant an exigency believe that substitutes 
for the present methods of power production will by that time have been 
found, and that man having discovered a means to utilize the living phys¬ 
ical forces will be no longer dependent upon the accumulations of past 
ages for heat, light and power.” 

One hundred years, what is that? Why! I have only got to go back to 


the date of my father’s birth, and I am back over ninety years, and he has 
only been dead two years; this brings one hundred years pretty close. Had 
our forefathers neglected and sought only their immediate comforts, instead 
of enduring such hardships to lay the foundation for the prosperity and hap¬ 
piness of the coming generations, we would not have been as prosperous as 
now. It is therefore, the duty of every man to think of those who are to 
follow him. 

In the city of Chicago there is consumed annually, I have heard it 
estimated, over 3,000,000 tons of coal of which, I am satisfied by co-operation 
in its consumption or combination in plants for supplying numbers of 
houses with heat within a certain radius, a large saving could be made; 
as unquestionably the present style of furnaces is bad. 

In the majority of furnaces with automatic arrangements of feed, the 
fire is deadened at the center, whence the very best heat should be derived. 
It seems to me practical to draw pure air from the uncontaminated dist¬ 
rict in the country, heat it at central power houses and introduce it into 
houses through meters and pipes in the winter, and use the same device for 
cooling the air in summer; and in this way lessen the great consumption 
of coal. Were it not for the wonderful possibilities of electricity, I should 
tremble for the coming millions as the coal supply becomes exhausted. 
But the relief for heat, light and power for future generations lies in 
electricity. 






Chapter X 


Trucks, Motors, and Applications of the Same. 


T he best authorities I have read on electric motors, claim that large 
armatures with slow motion and broad bearings, well protected from 
dust and outside influences,, are the most desirable, and this has been my aim 
in designing my truck, as we have the rotating power in electricity of suf¬ 
ficient quickness and strength for almost any speed from one to three hun¬ 
dred miles per hour. In fact, the speed is almost unlimited in electricity, 
the principal question being the best possible way to connect it from the 
motor to the track wheels and mount it on the truck. For connection 
we have but four mediums, viz : cog gearing, belts, reciprocating con¬ 
nections and friction. It is out of the question to use reciprocating 
rods as connections for this purpose, as before stated, on account of the can¬ 
non ball speed back and forth of the connecting rods, which racks all 
parts, and the loss is too great in friction by stopping the momentum each 
alternate motion. Hence, it lies between belts, cogs and friction; 
and on account of teeth so rapidly sliding from each other, the loss by 
friction in cog wheels is very great, and the wear and noise is very objec¬ 
tionable and I consider chain or belt connection better. I think that I have 
proven or shown in previous chapters that friction idlers of sufl&cient face 
with means of introducing almost any pressure as a connection between the 
truck wheels and the motors are the best. They could be constructed 
of wood or paper and thus be very light and do the work. A great many 
exceedingly practical men are bitterly opposed to friction, as a means of com¬ 


municating power. I am greatly in favor of it, especially in the case of very 
high speed, and starting and stopping suddenly. I so arrange my friction 
idler that I can get friction force equally as great between the motor and 
the truck wheels as the weight of the car afibrds between the truck wheels and 
the track. I am enabled, as will be seen, to pinch my idler between the 
driving and driven wheels with almost any pressure rendering it prac¬ 
tically noisless, and all is thoroughly protected from the dust in all parts 
and easily handled from within the body of the car. As will also be 
observed, I bring an equal power bearing on all the wheels in the truck that 
the motor is capable of giving. Several very prominent electric railroad men 
suggest a small motor directly on each axle, but I consider this undesirable 
for high speed, because it adds just so many more parts and so much more 
machinery to look after; and small machines cannot be built as strong as 
large ones. The advantage of one large motor of sufficient power is, that it 
can be connected with all the wTieels of the truck, gives the desired weight 
to produce the requisite adhesion, and is more accessible when the train is 
in motion, as a close study of my design will show. In my model I expect 
to use a chain or belt connection on account of the smallness of the 
parts which would not exist in a full sized car. 

CONSTRUCTION OF HIGH SPEED TRUCKS. 

I made up my mind to build a truck on entirely new principles, using 
only the M. C. B. Box, thus disposing with all bolts, cotters, hangings and 


£9 




70 


• • • 


TRUCKS, MOTORS, AND APPLICATIONS OF THE SAME 



SECTION PLAN AND SIDE ELEVATION OF PROPOSED HIGH SPEED ELECTRIC STEEL TRUCK 
























































































































































































































































































































































































71 


-.TRUCKS, MOTORS, AND APPLICATIONS OF THE SAME... 



PLAN SECTION AND 


SIDE ELEVATION OF STEEL TRUCK WITH SMALL 


MOTOR AS APPLIED TO STREET CAR SERVICE 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































HIGH SPEED MOTOR TRUCK WITH BELT CONNECTION, 















































































































































































































































































































































PNEUMATIC SPRINGS. 




















































74 


...TRUCKS, MOTORS, AND APR LI CATIONS OFTHE SAME... 


chains, and make the truck in as few pieces as possible. And I believe 
if reference is made to the drawings, it will be found that my design for a 
steel truck as shown would be much stronger and better even for steam 
cars, than the present truck, on account of the very few parts. I have 
before me an authentic statement of the number of pieces used in one six 
wheel truck, such as are used under sleeping cars. 

Bolts, rivets and screws,.465 pieces 

Wrought iron, steel and nuts,.767 “ 

Castings, ..117 “ 

Wood.30 “ 

Making a total of.1,379 pieces. 

In a 60,000 pound freight truck as is now constructed there are 

Bolts and cotters,.59 pieces. 

Wrought iron, steel and nuts,.200 “ 

Castings,. 35 “ 

Wood,. 4 “ 

Total. 298 pieces. 

In a freight car truck there are at least ten times as many as there should 
be. I do not believe in my truck there is one-tenth as many, and they are 
are not so heavy, although some have claimed it is necessary to build 
the trucks very heavy in order to hold the train down to the track ; but 
with my proposed three rail track all these objections will be over¬ 
come. I also think my pneumatic spring will save enormously in weight 
and would be adaptable to steam railroads, as well as electric. This spring 
would weigh less than 1,200 pounds complete, while the weight in pas¬ 
senger car springs is 3,520 pounds, made up as follows : 


8 spiral, 40 pounds each,. 320 lbs. 

8 elliptical, 400 pounds each, .3,200 “ 

Total,.3,520 lbs. 


With this new pneumatic spring hardly a jar would be perceptible, and I 
think very little car-sickness would result from the swaying motion of the 
train; friction would be lessened in rounding curves as it works on roller 
bearings always in oil. There is not a superfluous piece in the truck designed 
by me and nothing to work loose, and the load that the working parts wnll 
carry can be figured out to a pound, just as in the case of bridges, thus 
disposing of all surplus weight in metal. With the present truck there 
seems to be no formula for estimating just how heavy to make the different 
parts to carry the various loads for which the truck is designed, as is always 
done in structural iron work. Hence, I claim that economy would be very 
great in more ways than one by saving this superfluous weight. 

There is no question but that the present truck is a complicated com¬ 
bination of pieces, bolts, chains and parts, all of which are more or less 
liable to be lost or out of place. And there is no doubt, as I have said 
before, that in all car construction and equipment, the railroads use too 
much weight to haul back and forth over the country in freight equip¬ 
ment. In nearly every case the car weighs more than the freight it carries, 
and with passenger trains almost invariably many times as much. It is an 
established rule of good mechanics, the less the number of parts and weight to 
do the work the better the construction. So I hope that with the introduction 
of high speed electric railroads for transcontinental travel—which is certainly 
only a question of a short time—radical improvements will be made by 
building the trucks on entirely new principles, disposing with the multi¬ 
plication of parts, using only as many parts and just as much material as is 
necessary to carry the load for which the equipment is designed, also light¬ 
ening the weight of car bodies. 

















Chapter XL 


Three-Rail Track and its Advantages. 


T here are numerous advantages building on the three rail system for 
high speed railroads, the principal one being the solidity of the track, 
because the load comes on the center rail, (as shown and described by 
me), at the center of the ties, where the foundation is naturally 
solid, and can easily and cheaply he made so in soft ground by spiles driven 
directly under it; and the friction is reduced to a minimum. The one inch 
or so the centre rail is higher than the two outside ones gives great ad¬ 
vantage to this system as it reduces friction to a minimum and increases 
adhesion to a maximum, and avoids nearly all the causes of accidents. 

In my improved railroad track the points of merit claimed are the 
minimum amount of friction and the maximum amount of adhesion, and 
bringing the load directly pver the centre of gravity with very little 
additional expense in construction ; for by having the centre rail a loo pound 
rail and the two outside rails 50 pound, the cost would be same as two 100 


pound rails and I believe the adoption will save hundreds of thousands of 
dollars in motive power. The central rail remedies nearly all the causes 
of accident, viz ; spreading of the rails, jumping from the track by the 
momentum, etc., as previously described. One cannot but notice the loose 
dirt which always exists around the ends of the ties in the best road-beds, 
while the centre of the tie is imbedded in a solid foundation. I have 
often put my feet on the end of the tie in some of our best road-beds and 
sprung it up and down with my own weight, while in the centre the tie 
was as solid as a rock ; thus convincing me the load should come on the 
centre of the tie and not on the ends; for the constant vibration produced 
by passing trains loosens the ballast at the ends and you always receive 
the bow-spring effect on your ties, while on three rails you simply cannot 
throw the car from the track, no matter how high speed you attain on any 
curve as the centre of gravity is practically the place of bearing. 


75 




76 


• • • 


THREE-RAIL TRACK AND ITS ADVANTAGES 





X 


THREE-RAIL TRACK, 























































































Chapter Xil 


My Enterprises as an Investment. 


M y experience in life has been that if anything is worth doing it should 
be done at once, a company organized and plan of action reached, 
capital interested and work commenced. With this end in view I have 
organized three different companies to accomplish the great works I wish 
to see done, or at least under good headway, before the close of the next 
few years. 

Again, I alw^ays want to know wTiere the money is coming from to 
complete enterprises before starting in ; also fully demonstrate itspractica- 
bility by models built to an exact scale, so that there can be no mistakes. Even 
in this day of so many trusts and joint-stock and bond-issuing corpora¬ 
tions I believe there are those who appreciate honesty of purpose and meri¬ 
torious enterprises sufficiently to make my undertaking, though large, a 
success. I believe I can raise the necessary capital to accomplish the 
work; and the reason I have been successful in financiering all the enter¬ 


prises I have ever undertaken is that my study has been to create securities 
that are secure and not insecure. I have always made money for those 
who have invested in my enterprises without an exception. And among 
the things which I do not understand, is why breweries, refineries, and 
other enterprises combining to curtail production wish so much additional 
capital, which is usually required to increase production and not to lessen 
it. Put your money in a legitimate but new enterprise where you can see 
the necessity of the additional capital and the practical and ultimate suc¬ 
cess of the undertaking, and not in the hands of great stock-jobbing cor¬ 
porations, which pay dividends to-day and go into receivers’ hands to¬ 
morrow ; whose property is covered with so many layers of bonds that an 
additional issue can be slipped in at the bottom, top or middle of the pack 
and not make any material difference. 


I 


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Chapter XIII. 


SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISES OF MY ORGANIZATION, BASED ON PATENTS 
GRANTED ME AT VARIOUS TIMES, REPRESENTING A TOTAL 


CASH INVESTMENT 


MATHER SELF-LACING GLOVE. 

HIS was practically my first patent, issued to me June, 1880, and 
July 17th, 1883, witli improvement thereon in 1887. No corporation 
was ever organized, but under the firm name of A. C. Mather & Co., Chi¬ 
cago, have been sold during the past ten years over 1,500,000 pairs of 
gloves, made under these patents in the United States and Canada. 

The ground upon which this patent was granted was the intricate but 
simple manner in which the lacing cords were arranged in the eyelets, so 
that by pulling the cord the opening was instantly drawn squarely together, 
leaving only a few inches of cord at the wrist of the glove, which was fas¬ 
tened with a small ball slide, apparently a very simple invention, but attended 
with a great deal of thought and labor before it could be put in merchant¬ 
able shape, and one which perplexed me more than to design later a triple 
expansion compound engine. It has been a very popular selling specialty, 
and had a very large sale, as the above figures show. 

Jan. 5th, 1892, I took out a patent (No. 466,503) on a hook glove, 
which, on account of its neatness,and convenience, I believe is destined to 
become as popular as the glove above mentioned, and is being placed on 


OF OVER $ 1 , 000 , 000 . 


the market with great success by the Royal Hook Glove Company of Chi¬ 
cago. The hook is made in one piece by machinery with great rapidity, 
and applied to the glove from the back side, presenting no uneven or hard 
spots to hurt the wrists of the most delicate person. 


MATHER HUMANE STOCK TRANSPORTATION CO. 

This company was organized in 1881 to develop the patent (No. 240,- 
527) issued to me April 25, 1881, for an improvement in Stock Cars, and 
subsequent patents Feb. 20th, 1883 (No. 272,451), Jan. 15th, 1S89 (No. 396,- 
100), Sept. 24th, 1889 (No. 411,462), with an idea of eliminating as far as 
possible the suffering at that time so general in transporting live stock to 
and from various parts of the country by rail. Starting with one car in 
i88o, this company has over 1,400 cars in service at the present time. It 
has never missed paying a 4 per cent, semi-annual dividend on its preferred 
stock since its organization in 1881, and the actual cash capital invested in 
the equipment of this company alone approximates nearly fi,000,000. 

When I first became interested in the live-stock transportation busi¬ 
ness, in 1880, it was through an accident to a stock train on one of my 



79 





RIAL TRIP MADE OCTOBER 22, 1881, FROM CHICAGO TO BOSTON. 


Report of Commou Car. No. Date October 22, 1881. 


No Head. Net Weight. Witnesses to Weight in Chicago 
Cattle taken on at Chicago 15 22,800 I Wm. Geagan Agt. M. C. R. R. 

Signed J M. McGee, buyer 

for J. H. Hathaway. 

Cattle taken off at Boston 15 22,050 f William Killion, 

Signed-; Weighmaster for J. H. 

- ( Hathaway, Boston 

Total shrinkage, 50 lbs per head 750 per car. 


I Report of Mather Patent Car. No. 6801. Date, October 22, 1881. ■ 

No. Head. Net Weight. Witnesses to Weight in Chicago. 


Cattle taken on at Chicago 

15 

23,210 

Signed- 

Wm. Geagan, Agt. M. C. R. R. 
M. McGee, buyer 



J. H. Hathaway. 

Cattle taken off at Boston 

15 

22,950 

(, William Killon, Weigh- 


Si 

gued< master for J. H. Hath- 




( away, Boston. 

Total shrinkage, 1754 ft's 

per head 

260 per car. 



TRIAL TRIP MADE FEBRUARY 18,1882, FROM CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. 


Report of Common Car. 


No. 1696. 

February 18, 1882. 

Report of Mather Patent Car. 


No. 6801. 


Date, February 18, 1882. 


No. Head. 

Net Weight. 

Witnesses. 


No. Head. Net Weight. 


Witnesses. 

Cattle taken on at Chicago 

16 

20,760 

( A. Hirsh, 

signea j i^eadwith. Shipper. 

Cattle taken on at Chicago 

17 

22,140 

Signed 

( A. Hirsh. 

j M. Deadwith, Shipper. 

Cattle taken off at New York 

16 

19,710 

signed 

Cattle taken of at New York 

17 

23,350 

Signed 

( M. Leadwith, 

1 Shipper. 

Total shrinkage, 63 10-16 lbs 







per head 

1,050 per car. 

Total shrinkage, 46 8-17 ws per head 

790 per car. 





TRIAL TRIP MADE JUNE 1, 1882 

FROM CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. 





Report of Common Car. 

No 7086. 

Date, June i, 1882. 

Report of Mather Patent Car. 


No. 6801. 


- Date, June 1, 1882. 


No. Head. 

Net Weight. 

Witnesses. 


No. Head. 

Net Weight. 


Witnesses. 

Cattle taken on at Chicago 

16 

20,820 

c; J ( Davie Barnes, 

mgneu ^ Yard Master. 

Cattle taken on at Chicago 

17 

22 - 39 ° Signed | 

Davie Barnes. 

Jas. Hoy, Yard Master. 

Cattle taken off at New York 

16 

19,920 

Signed, John Donohoe. 

Cattle taken of at New York 

17 

21,710 

Signed, John Donohoe. 

Total shrinkage, 56^4 lbs per head 

900 per c.ir. 

Total shrinkage, 40 lbs per head 

680 per 

car. 



This lot of cattle was raised by the same farmer, nearly the same age, and sold at the same time and in every respect in the same condition when they left Chicago. 


TRIAL TRIP MADE AUGUST 21,1882, FROM CHICAGO TO NEW YORK. 


Report of Common Car. 


No. 7126. 


Date, August 21, 1882. 


No. Head. Net Weight. 
22 23,110 


Cattle taken on at Chicago. 

Cattle taken off at New York 22 22 580 

Total shrinkage, 24 i-ii Ibs per head 530 per car. 


Witnesses. 

( Chas. B. More, 
j David Waixel. 

( M. H. Estheimer, 
Signed for D. Waixel. 


Report of Mather Patent Car. 


No. 6801. 


Cattle taken on at Chicago 
Cattle taken off at New York 20 
Total shrinkage, 10^ lbs per head 


No. Head. Net Weight. 
20 23,930 


Date, August 21, 1882. 

Witnesses. 

S Chas. B. More. 
Signed I Waixel. 


23,720 


Signed 


M. H. Estheimer, 
Bk. for D. Waixel. 


210 per car. 


This lot of cattle was raised by the same farmer, nearly the same age, and sold at the same time, and in every respect in the same condition when they left Chicago. 


GENERAL SUMMARY OF ABOVE TRIPS, SHOWING RESULTS AT DIFFERENT SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 



80 









































































...SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISES OF MY ORGANIZATION... 


8i 



usual trips east, when the moans of the poor animals, who had been for 
days without food or water, made life within a mile almost unbearable, as 
they gored and fought each other from end to end of the car in their fran¬ 
tic rage for food, water and liberty. It then took from five to seven days 
to make the run from Chicago to New York, and it was very rare that there 
were not from one to four dead animals in each train, to say nothing about 
the cripples. Now the run is made with great regularity inside of three 
days, and a dead animal is very rarely if ever heard of, and I estimate that 
in the equipment of our company alone there are transported at least 
20,000 to 30,000 head of cattle per month, from various parts of the 
country, to and from Chicago. The great saving in shrinkage alone 
amounts to enormous sums. If we took the average daily arrivals at the 
Stock Yards of 13,000 head, and average saving in shrinkage was only 
twenty pounds each (if they were all shipped in improved cars) the amount 
would figure in the vicinity of $3,900,000 per annum saved to the cattle in¬ 
dustry alone, without including sheep and hogs. I think the preceding 
table of careful tests, made by me in 1881 and 1882, may prove interesting. 
At that time I took two car-loads of cattle raised on the same farm, ship¬ 
ped into the Chicago market at the same time and under the same condi¬ 
tions, taking their respective weights, with the signature of the weighmas- 


cer and several witnesses at both ends of the run. On reaching the 
destination there appeared a difference in shrinkage of from 15 to 35 
pounds per head between those shipped in improved cars, in which they 
had food and water, and those shipped in common cars and unloaded two 
or three times between Chicago and the seaboard. I think twenty pounds 
per head will be found a low estimate ; 

As these tests show, the average saving in shrinkage from Chi¬ 
cago to Boston and New York is nearly 25 pounds per head, and this 
great boon to live-stock interests must all be accredited to the enterprise of 
a few individuals, who put their time, energy and money in bringing about 
reforms which the railroad companies would not make. Hence I claim they 
deserve great credit, nearly all of whom have come into the fields since I 
started in 1880, and these improved cars now number in the thousands; 
and I am glad of it, so long as the good work goes on. 

However, if it does go a little against a man’s nature to blow his own 
horn (as they say) and proclaim his own works, it has become so customary 
to do so that those who do not are sure to be left and others get the credit 
for work done. Hence I claim to have built the first successful Palace Stock 
Car, which has now become so general and in which stock is fed and watered 
without unloading, and with very little loss of weight, -which run between 
Chicago and the seaboard. 

THE MATHER WEDGE LOCK. 

M. C. B. COUPLER CO. 

This company operates under the patents granted to me Oct. 21st, 
1890—an automatic coupler of the M. C. B. type, of which over 15,000 are 
now in service on various lines of railroad in the United States, with sales 
constantly increasing ; and I might add that if there is anything which 
will produce a blot on a man’s brain it is to invent and patent an auto¬ 
matic car coupler, for there is such an infinite number of devices of that 
kind already on the market. At the same time I claim a record, that even 
though I allowed myself to drift into this precarious field, my efforts were 
crowned with success, as our sales will show, and might have been much 














82 


SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISES OF MY ORGANIZATION.. 


larger had I the inclination, time and opportunity to have given this line 
of work my attention ; buti am now working in the electrical line, and I 
believe I shall make as much of a success in that direction as 1 have in the 


others, although the undertakings, on account of their magnitude, seem 
appalling—but they are practical and must result in success. 

























Chapter XIV 


\ 

My Undeveloped Patents and the Opportunities for Their 
Use and Sale in this and Foreign Countries. 


H aving in the previous chapter alluded to my developed patents, all 
of which, without exception, have been successful so far as sales go, 
(which is the best evidence of usefulness), I now allude to those pending in 
this and foreign countries, most of the claims for which have been allowed. 

The secret of the marvellous strides of the United States during the 
past loo years, I believe, is largely due to that just law which fosters and 
encourages inventions, by which the inventor, practically for seventeen 
years, enjoys the exclusive right to his invention ; which, if a benefit to 
mankind or a saving in cost of production, is sure to bring good returns, 
and will enable the inventor to devote his thoughts to other things which 
always exist in his brain. If it were not for this just law of protection the 
product of years of brain work and experimenting would be stolen by those 
who are in a position to take advantage of his works as soon as they are 
perfected, and thus leave him no surplus to enable him to devote his time 
to other things. 

Without going into full details or descriptions of any of the patents 
which I wish to allude to, I will simply copy from the specifications which 
are on file in the patent office, the advantages of my various inventions: 

Pneumatic Spring for Railroad Cars and other Vehicles. No. 459 ' 374 - 
Application filed March 8th, 189'^. 


This invention relates to an improved pneumatic spring of endless 
form, with the king bolt of a car or vehicle for its center of location, and 
consisting of upper and lower metallic frames, between which is placed 
the Pneumatic Spring, its lower half resting in suitable bars, well lubri¬ 
cated and capable of retaining oil. 

An illustration of this spring can be found in another chapter. Ap¬ 
plications for patents on this and succeeding inventions are now pending in 
this and foreign countries, and rights to use the same are for sale. 

Three-Rail Track. No. 459,376. Application filed March 15, 1893. 

This invention consists of an improvement in a railroad track by which 
the friction is reduced to a minimum, and the highest possible adhesion of 
the driving wheels is obtained ; great stiffness can also be given to the rail 
which carries the load, because of its position in the center of the ties, and 
its slight elevation over the other two makes it a patentable novelty, like a 
needle with the eye at the point for a sewing machine. Though an ex¬ 
ceedingly simple invention, renders .possible, in high-speed railroading, 
a great many things that otherwise could not be. 

Electric Railroad and Canal Boat System. No. 468,475. Application 
filed March 3d, 1893. 

The object of this invention is to combine on practically the same 


83 



84 MY UNDEVELOPED PATENTS AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEIR USE AND SALE. 


grade and right of waj^ a canal on which heavy freight can be transported 
electrically propelled boats, and an electric railroad on which high-class 
freight and passengers can be transported, using practically the same 
power, stations, polling, wires, etc,, thus obtaining the highest carrying 
capacity at a minimum cost. As is well known, heavy freight can be trans¬ 
ported by water at greatly reduced expense of power, wear and tear, while 
passengers and high-class freight require great speed at a vast increase of 
expense, and wear and tear of machinerjq rolling stock, etc. By combining 
the two I expect to attain a minimum cost per ton per mile for all classes 
of freight, and such a system is particularly adapted to canals b^^ using the 
tow'-path for a railroad ; illustrations of w'hich will be found in Chap¬ 
ter V. 

Application of Klectric Power to the Propulsion of Canal Boats. No. 
468,474. P'iled March 31st, 1893. 

The object of this invention is, first, to provide the best possible means 
for the application of electric power to the propulsion of canal boats with¬ 
out the necessity of altering the boat in its present construction. This 
is accomplished bj' a peculiar arrangement of an electric motor and 
screw propellers, and a system of trolleys which not only supply current to 
the motor on the boat, but guide it in its course. There is also in connec¬ 
tion with the motor on the boat a storage batterj" to propel it in and out 
of locks, and such places as the trolley wires do not reach. Illustrations 
of this boat can be seen in previons chapters. 

Railroad Truck. No. 459,375. Applications filed Jan. 23d, 1893. 

The object of this invention is to constrnct a truck of as few parts as 
possible, and at the same time give great rigidity and stiffness, and equally 
distribute the load of the car body over the,same ; also to provide a suit¬ 
able construction to which the boxes and bearings can be securely applied. 
The construction of this truck is such that, the load being known, the re¬ 
quired strength can be figured exactly, so that not one pound of superflu¬ 
ous metal need be used in its construction. There is also a system of 
electric brakes which are easily adapted to this style of truck, although air 
can be used. These are covered by suitable combination claims. A very 


good illustration of this truck, which is made entirely of steel, can be seen 
in Chapter X. 

Application of Petroleum or Gasoline Engines to the Propulsion of 
Canal Boats. No. 457,519. Filed Jan. 6, 1893. 

The object of this invention is the application of petroleum or gaso¬ 
line engines to canal boats without materially altering their construction, 
the advantages by the use of which are very apparent. They would re¬ 
quire no licensed engineer or skilled person to run them, are exceedingly 
simple and compact, and when applied, as shown in the illustrations in 
Chapter VIII in this book, I believe will be found much less expensive than 
steam power. 

Compound Petroleum or Gasoline Engines. No. 473,421. Application 
filed May 8th, 1893. 

The object of this invention is to construct a petroleum, gas or gaso¬ 
line engine in which the loss of heat by the cooling of the cylinder walls is 
reduced to a minimum, and the loss of power by exhaust direct into the 
open air, while the explosive gases are still under high pressure, is avoided. 
Also to produce a simple and easily regulated governor to regulate the sup¬ 
ply of oil and gas in order that there may be no waste when an engine is 
not doing work. Experiments have demonstrated that the loss of heat in 
the cylinder walls will average 51 per cent., the loss carried away by ex¬ 
haust 31 per cent., and that by radiation 2 per cent., thus leaving only 16 
per cent, of the actual power used in working the engine. It is with the 
object of lessening this loss, as above described, that this patent is ap¬ 
plied for. 

Correspondence is especially solicited with foreigners who believe there 
is an opportunity to profitably introduce anj' of my inventions in their re¬ 
spective countries. Applications for patents on the above are now pend¬ 
ing in this and other countries. 

Patents are granted in the following countries for the period stated ; 

Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man, 14 years. 

France and Algeria, 15 years ; expires with the original patent when 
patented in other countries. 


MY UNDEVELOPED PATENTS AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEIR USE AND SALE. 


8S 


Belgium, 20 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Luxembourg, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Germany, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Austria and Hungary, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 
Switzerland, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Italy, Sicily and Sardinia, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 
Spanish Empire, 20 years. 

Spain, Cuba, Porto Rico and the Phillippine Islands, 20 years ; expires 
ith the original patent. 

Russian Empire excepting Finland, 10 years. 

Finland, 15 years. 

Denmark and Iceland, 5 years. 

Sweden, 15 years ; expires with original patent. 

Norw^ay, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Portugal and its Colonies, 15 years ; expires with the original patent 
Greece, 15 years. 

Turkey, 15 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Tasmania, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Western Australia, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

New Zealand, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Fiji Islands, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

India, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Ceylon, 14 years. 

Straits Settlements, 14 years. 

Hong Kong, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Cape of Good Hope, 14 years; expires with the original patent. 

Natal, 14 years; expires with the original patent. 


South African Republic or the Transvaal, 14 years ; expires with the 
original patent. 

Mauritius, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Victoria, 14 years; expires with the original patent. 

New South Wales, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

South Australia, 14 years ; expires with the original patent. 

Queensland, 14years ; expires with the original patent. 

Note. —in addition to the above mentioned patents, on which applica¬ 
tions are pending, the following have been issued : 

American Patent 441183, November 25th, 1890. Water Power. 

“ “ 473941, May 3rd, 1892. 

Canadian “ 42863, May loth, 1893, “ “ 

Their object is to utilize the power of large and comparatively slow mov¬ 
ing bodies of water, to accomplish which it is necessary : First, to produce 
a very large, long water wheel, so constructed that every part wdll tend to 
brace the wheel in a perfectly rigid manner, provided with removable 
pedals, against which the water exerts its pressure, which can be readily 
and quickly replaced in event they become damaged. Second ; it is neces¬ 
sary to raise and lower the wheel quickly, no matter what the length or 
weight. Third: on account of the slow but powerful movement of the 
wheel, and closeness with which it fits between the piers, it is necessary to 
connect great power-reproducing machinery by which the power can be 
taken from any part of the wheel in proportion to the force with which the 
current strikes it at that part—the current being much swifter in the center 
of a river than near its banks. All of which is accomplished in a most 
satisfactory manner as fully described in the above mentioned patents. 







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Chapter XV 


Conclusion. 


T WEI/VE years ago, when I was traveling around the country with 
my improved stock car, my friends all sympathized and laughed at 
me sa_ying I was wasting my time and money in such an undertaking. 
However, I felt sure of success, because I had an improvement on what 
then existed in that line; and success did come at last, though attended 
with a great deal of annoyance and hard work. I now have the same con¬ 
fidence (in event my health does not fail), in the ultimate success of some 
if not all the enterprises described in this pamphlet, because I feel they 
are an improvement on what now exists in that line and will result in tht 
utilization of a great wealth of wasted energy, which is so much needed in 
the form of Electrical power at the present time. 

I have always backed up my ideas wdth money and they have never 
lost me a dollar yet; this, too, gives me confidence in many things which 
would seem at first glance a little visionary. I have also done most of my 
work alone, because if I could not get the right kind of men interested, I 
would rather have none at all; as no enterpi can succeed with too many 
high salaried officers and too much contention on arising questions. I also 
believe that if a man is honest in his intentions and efforts, he will be so 
judged by the public generally; and if his enterprises have the requisite 
merit, they will receive the moral and financial assistance necessary to 
carry them to completion. I do not hope to start immediately to build 
this proposed New York & Chicago Electric System of Transpoitation, but 


shall at once commence active operations upon the franchises and building 
of the bridge and power house, as illustrated in the previous chapters,— 
leaving inventors to decide whether the bridge be made a memorial. 
When I have shown what I can do in the bridge line, I shall then proceed 
on the other enterprises; in the meantime doing what I can to assist the 
Erie Canal boatmen with better power for the propulsion of their boats. 
When this is done, I shall feel that I am entitled to some consideration in 
my plan of electric transportation along the banks of the Erie Canal. 

As is well known, it is utterly impossible to accomplish any great or 
small work without money and public favor. Hence, I hope that if not all 
my plans, at least some of them will take root in popular favor, sufficiently 
strong to enable me to carry them to a successful completion; with the 
assurance that those who come to my assistance first and do what they can, 
either in a moral or financial way, will come in on a much higher basis of 
returns than those who become interested only after the enterprises become 
an estabU’s^f^fl ATv theory always has been that those who first take 

risks and promote an enterprise, should realize large returns on their 
investment, while those who come in when the enterprise is an established 
success and all risk past, should not expect over 4 per cent. It is also 
desirable to interest as large a number as possible, consequently I hope 
that I shall hear from many in answer to this little pamphlet; even though 
the interest they may take be only letters of encouragement. I shall also 


87 




88 


. . . CONCLUSION . . . 


be thankful for criticisms and suggestions by letter, as personal interviews 
without previous correspondence will be attended with delay. I will also 
pay liberally for any suggestions or improvements which are used and 
adopted on any of my enterprises described in this pamphlet. 

There must necessarily be many errors in a book of this kind, hastily 
written by a novice whose thoughts can only be spared from other pursuits 
a few hours at a time. Therefore, I hope it may be dealt with generously 
by the public. I also expect and hope for more and better results after the 
World’s Fair is over than just at the present time, my desire being, how¬ 
ever, that the inception of the enterprise should date from the World’s Fair 
year. I must confess one of the most unpleasant features in connection 
with this undertaking has been the delay in getting my exhibit of this 
system in working order in the Electrical Building at the World’s Fair, 
now so nearly closed ; and my excuse is, that the more interested I became 
and the deeper I went into the possibilities of this enterprise the more 
apparent it became to me, that in order to put into practice this system for 
the utilization of the power of the Niagara River at Buffalo, it was actually 
necessary that I should own the river front on the Canadian side, which 
controls that portion of the river through which the current is so rapid and 
well situated for utilization. When I found through correspondence that 


it was possible to buy this very desirable property, which would give actual 
ownership to over one-half mile of river front just where needed, I made up 
my mind to buy and was caused great delay in perfecting the title by difficulty 
in reaching the heirs, some of whom were in India, others in London and 
Glasgow. And it was a struggle for me to decide whether it was best to 
make public my enterprise and run the risk of having the owners of this 
property change their minds thus losing me the opportunity of purchasing 
the property, or on the other hand, lose the splendid opportunity of 
exhibiting it, as I had intended, at the World’s Fair. After due delibera¬ 
tion I made up my mind that, as it is human nature where people own 
property which they think another must have to increase enormonsly their 
ideas of its value, I had better let my exhibit rest until I had secured this 
river frontage, and thus be on the safe side. This is my excuse for the 
seeming neglect and delay in the exhibit of the working model of my ideas 
(which to me seem so practical), in the Electrical Building. 

I am now, however, happy to say that the perfecting of the title and 
transfer is accomplished, and I feel that I control the site so far as utilizing 
this power is concerned, in the manner described, provided I can receive 
the proper encouragement from the public in general. 

















































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